Rating summary
| Movie |  | 2.5 |
| Video |  | 3.0 |
| Audio |  | 3.5 |
| Extras |  | 1.0 |
| Overall | | 3.0 |
Shattered Blu-ray Movie Review
Starting Over
Reviewed by Michael Reuben October 10, 2015
Before director Wolfgang Petersen graduated from the German blockbuster Das Boot to
Hollywood blockbusters like Air Force One and The Perfect Storm, he made a small thriller
called Shattered that Petersen scripted himself, adapting a novel by Richard Neely. The film was
critically savaged for its improbabilities and did limited box office, but it has a certain crazy
charm, thanks to committed performances by an appealing cast.
After a surviving a horrific car crash on New Year's Eve in the mountains of Marin County, CA,
Judith Merrick (Greta Scacchi) awakens in the hospital to be told that her husband, Dan (Tom
Berenger), is in a coma with grievous injuries. Months of rehabilitation and reconstructive
surgery follow, but Dan has lost all memory of his life and identity before the accident.
A wealthy partner in an architectural and construction firm, Dan attempts to return to his former
life but is troubled by memories of the accident and other fragmentary scenes he cannot
comprehend. He also finds inconsistencies in his surroundings. His partner, Jeb Scott (Corbin
Bernsen), tells him that he was talking about divorce on the night of the accident; Jeb's wife,
Jenny (Joanne Whalley), tells him that Judith is a pathological liar; and Dan discovers that Judith
was having an affair with a man named Jack Stanton (Scott Getlin). Indeed, Dan paid a semi-retired private eye, Gus Klein (Bob Hoskins), to
photograph the affair. Now Gus finds evidence suggesting that the accident may not have been an accident.
The ultimate explanation is wildly implausible, but then again so is Dan's survival of the auto
disaster, which Petersen photographs with gut-wrenching impact. From its very opening,
Shattered lets you know you've entered a world where implausibility is the norm. Having
established that rule, the story is free to go almost anywhere, and it pushes that freedom to the
limit.
Shattered Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality
MGM has supplied Kino with a decent master for this 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray. Minor
source damage appears near the beginning but largely vanishes after the opening titles. The
transfer has acceptable detail, good densities and accurate color values. Its shortcomings appear
in darker scenes, especially those involving mist and fog, where contrast is sometimes weak and
blacks often shade toward gray. Mastered on a BD-25, Shattered arrives with an average bitrate
of 24.95 Mbps.
Shattered Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality
Shattered's original Dolby Surround mix is encoded as lossless DTS-HD MA 2.0, and it has
plenty of punch and surround presence for the opening crash and its many repetitions in
flashbacks. A few other loud sounds that can't be identified without spoilers also register
forcefully. Dialogue is clear, and Alan Silvestri's score is effectively reproduced.
Shattered Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras
- Making-Of Featurette (480i; 1.33:1; 4:00).
- Shattered Trailer (480i; 1.85:1, enhanced; 1:51).
- Love at Large Trailer
(480i; 1.85:1, enhanced; 1:56).
Shattered Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation
Shattered isn't a good risk as a blind buy, but for its fans, Kino has provided a serviceable Blu-ray of a film that MGM was unlikely to release.
Recommended.
