SHATTERED (2007)

TITLE
Shattered, (aka. Butterfly on a Wheel)

STARRING
Pierce Brosnan, Maria Bello, Gerard Butler

THIS MOVIE IS LIKE...
Ransom, Trapped, Firewall

WOULD YOU SUGGEST IT TO A FRIEND
Yes, but with reservations. Actors aren't at their best (think Brosnan in the Matador) and there are some weak points, but the story is very good and though the execution is flawed, the film can contend within the action genre in the vain of the above films.

PROTAGONIST
Neil Randall, played by Gerard Butler. A rehabilitated cad of sorts, he's popular with his boss and family. More importantly, he's come into his own as an unstoppable young force in the ad world which has allowed him to achieve a lifestyle he's only dreamt about.

FIRST 10 PAGES
A seemingly normal family on the surface, Neil Randall has it all; a stylish suburban Chicago home, job to die for, attractive wife, played by Maria Bello, and an adoring daughter. Beyond this, we see: a wife who longs for the career she left behind as a successful photographer to raise a family, the ultra attractive secretary that can hardly go unnoticed, and the envious, if not a bit jealous, teammates that are displeased with Randall's posturing.

SITUATION CHANGES (PAGE 15)
While en route to a meeting with his boss, Neil and his wife, whom he was set to drop off so she could spend the day with a friend are taken hostage by a malicious, yet well-equipped kidnapper, Tom Ryan, played by Pierce Brosnan. Threatening the life of the child they left at home with an unknown sitter, he commands Neil's attention almost immediately. Neil must now decide how far he is willing to go to save his daughter's life.

COMMIT TO THE QUEST (PAGE 30)
Neil commits to the increasingly more difficult charades only after a series of unavoidable torment by Tom, including the burning of his life savings, cruel treatment of his wife, reckless damage to his vehicle, and implied sabotage of his career that turns out to be built on a lot of bribery, leading Neil to the conclusion that his daughter's life really is in danger.

CHANGE IS FORESHADOWED (PAGE 45)
Convinced of the threat against his daughter's life, Neil in a bold, oddly uncharacteristic move sets off with is wife, not on the task they were given, but off to a nearby hotel where he believes the sitter is holding his daughter.

THERE'S NO GOING BACK (PAGE 60)
Fearing he's lost his wife and child forever after watching Tom make off with his wife in his SUV, Neil seeks out the nearest police station as a last resort. An ill-fated attempt, Tom has already cajoled Neil's wife into telling the detective on duty that her desperate husband would come to them with stories, exactly like the one Neil just laid out, because of a bitter breakup. Shattered, he leaves the station and and begins to crumble outside the building (in some over the top rainy theatrics). Just then, headlights from across the street flash and he is reunited with his wife who urges him to do everything Tom asks in order to prevent the death of their daughter and a more permanent separation.

A SECRET IS REVEALED (PAGE 75)
Taken to the alleged home of his boss, it is here we discover that he was never intending to rendezvous for business, but rather with his secretary to carryout ongoing indiscretions. The blow to Neil comes when he sees a picture of his tormentor on the mantle of his secretary's home. Who is he? He's her husband of course. Neil, shocked inquires as to what her husband would do if he found out she was cheating, the answer can only be....

ALL BETS ARE OFF (PAGE 90)
All hell would break loose, and so it does. Tom demands Neil kill his wife, which Neil cannot do. After some well-deserved ass-kicking and pleas from his desperate wife, Tom sends Neil off to be with his family, when he shares that his daughter was never in danger. Inquiring as to what happened, when she saw Neil's secretary inside, Neil chooses to lie.

THE END
Is decent....and perhaps because it contains the biggest reveal when the Randall Family is reunited and in a moment of honest intimacy, Neil's wife grabs him closely and whispers that it was her who set him up. The good news: his career, child, and life are no longer in danger, but his marriage is over.