Libre Magazine

James Bond vs. King Leonidas? Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?

Pierce Brosnan and Gerard Butler star in this low profile mystery thriller; and not surprisingly, both characters are at loggerheads throughout the movie. The storyline is reasonably well constructed; though the idea might not be an entirely novel one. There are sufficient thrills, twists and surprises in the movie for you to allocate your 95 minutes to it.

Neil and Abby Randall, with their beautiful daughter, are living a perfect life in a perfect world, until today, when Tom Ryan shows up in their car. Throughout the day and into the better half of the night, Ryan puts them through ordeals, the reason for which is not so clear. How far would Neil go to save his family and how far would Ryan go to make his point?

There are scores of other movies that roam along the same storyline but this one has a better cinematography to go with it. Ashley Rowe, who did cinematography for movies like Hope Springs, Calendar Girls and Alfie, has done an excellent work. You cant possibly miss the silky capture of the scenes in Chicago and Vancouver (where the film was pasteurized). You can’t possibly miss the sly camerawork in scenes that involved car interior, mirrored walls and urban panorama.

The acting is good enough. The movie revolves primarily around three characters. Maria Bello showed decent performance as a perplexed wife and a concerned mother in the whirlpool of events. Gerard Butler definitely has the skills to shed fragments of his previous movie characters and play a brand new character every time. Pierce Brosnan, and I am saying this because I am a fan, shouldn’t have taken up this role; it wasn’t strong enough for his powerful presence on screen. Still, it wasn’t a complete disappointment.

There is an element of mystery about the name of the movie as well. Originally titled, Butterfly on a Wheel, the film was renamed to Shattered for USA release, in Europe it was released under the title of Desperate Hours while for the rest of the world they kept the name simple enough to just call it The Butterfly.

For a lazy Sunday afternoon, it’s not a bad watch.

6.5/10