After surviving a car crash, real estate developer Dan Merrick (Tom Berenger) finds himself with Amnesia and begins to begin rebuilding his life with the help of his wife Judith (Greta Scacchi). As Dan examines the pieces of a life he can no longer remember and people he no longer knows his path crosses private investigator Gus Klein (Bob Hoskins) who reveals Dan's life may hide darker secrets.
Part of a wave of films in the 90s that tired to be updates on Hitchcockian suspense thrillers (Final Analysis, A Perfect Murder, etc.), Shattered was released to middling reviews and lackluster box office most likely due in no small part to having the misfortune of being released less than two months after very similar (and much more financially successful) Dead Again. And while Dead Again is objectively a stronger film on the whole, Shattered still deserves credit for being a smart thriller with engaging performances and a genuine sense of style and suspense.
Berenger is quite good as Dan Merrick and makes for a convincing everyman who tries to determine who can and cannot be trusted as he tries to piece together a mystery whose clues he can't seem to make sense of. Greta Scacchi is equally good as Dan's wife Judith and does a great job serving as a Hitchcock type enigma. But easily the best performance is Bob Hoskins as Private Investigator Gus Klein, a cynical, misanthropic, animal lover who commands the screen every time he's on camera.
The narrative is solid in terms of it's structure and Wolfgang Petersen's direction and writing effortlessly come together to create the needed amount of intrigue and engagement expected in a film of this ilk. Throughout the first half of the movie we (the audience) are very much in Dan's shoes following down every lead as he finds them with answers leading to more questions. To say anymore would be to spoil the movie, the ending it builds up to is suitably twisty and surprising but whether it strains credibility will be dependent on the person who watches it.
Shattered is a well made thriller with good performances and an intrigue rich hook. The film for the most part successfully emulates all the tricks and trappings familiar to Hitchcock's films and while it doesn't quite stick the landing for its ending (at least for me personally), it is still a solid thriller that'll keep you engaged til the end.
