‘Shattered‘ is a thriller directed by European filmmaker Luis Prieto and written by David Loughery. It was produced by Silver Reel and Construction Film with Lionsgate handling the distribution.

Chris Decker (Cameron Monaghan) is a “retired” home-security developer who sold his company, making him a millionaire. His wife Jamie (Sasha Luss) is hounding him to sign their divorce papers despite protests from their daughter Willow (Ridley Bateman). One night, he runs into Sky (Lilly Krug) who is having trouble with her roommate Lisa (Ash Santos) and landlord Ronald (John Malkovich). After breaking his leg, Sky offers to help him around the house until he recovers. However, Chris learns that Lisa has been killed and when he asks Sky about it, she casually admits that she committed the crime. When her boyfriend Sebastian (Frank Grillo) arrives, the two torture Chris for information to steal his fortune.

So, the acting is competent. No one really delivered a standout performance, but no one was bad either. I will say, though, Lilly Krug was better when she was hustling as her “psycho” moments felt a bit forced. Malkovich was decent. He definitely brought about his talent, though I am not prepared to say it was the best acting he ever did.

I did think it was neat that movie was shot in Montana. That does not happen very often and it made it seem a lot more unique. These days, movies always seem to shoot in Atlanta, New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago and even though the background shots were not few and few between, it was cool seeing a different backdrop.

As it stands as a thriller, it was kind of mediocre. Sure, there were a handful of tense moments, but nothing that really brought tingles to my spine. There was also these sequences when classical music was used and it was a dud. They tried to do this with random nude scenes and sequences of torture, but it never really landed.

Of course, this being run by a European director, we have to be bored by hamfisted and forced political speeches that were cringeworthy. I do not know why directors think a psychopath yelling a political speech moves the audience. It was silly, if anything. And, like other European features, the movie does not really resolve itself. It just kind of ends with only a vague resolution before the credits start.

Bottom line, Shattered does not shatter the meh ceiling. It does not offer anything, not even as a thriller to pull you in.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Violence, Sequences of torture, Sexual content including nudity

FAVORITE QUOTE: The kid is loose.

Check out the trailer below:

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