SHATTERED (2022) 

Shattered attempts to match the same ferocious energy as some classic erotic thrillers such as American Psycho, Gone Girl, and Basic Instinct, but clearly misses the mark in nearly every way. I can see pieces of what could’ve been a very fun ride, and perhaps some viewers can find some resemblance of a good ride in it, but for someone who’s niche doesn’t lie in this genre of film…I was lost. The performances came off very performed and hokey at times, especially our main antagonist played by Lily Krugg. I thought our lead, Cameron Monaghan, was fully invested in the despair and horribleness of his situation, but without anything to bounce off of and play with, the performance lands flat on its face. John Malkovich and Frank Grillo were very big disappointments for me, and really didn’t do anything to justify their presence in the film.

 

Now, I don’t want to trash on this film anymore, so let’s look at some of the tiny nuggets that I sort of enjoyed. I really was grooving with the soundtrack, and it added a lot of cool ambiance to some rather stale scenes. I also thought the setting of the film was visually interesting and added some tiny sparks of cool filmmaking. And I also do give the film merit for not disguising its premise or saving the very predictable twist for the latter half of the runtime.

 

But finally, I just needed to say that I felt this film would have been a lot better suited in the hands of a female director. The objectives and drives of the antagonists were only slightly touched on, and I was really hoping they would dive further into those themes, because I thought they would flesh out the character of Sky so much more. What the direction did for the character however, was to stomp out any scenes that showed the nuance and emotion of Sky, and instead replace it with chaotic-for-chaotic’s-sake monologs and an overabundance of sexist and rather demeaning undertones.