Shattered Blu-ray Movie

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.