If the name Shattered rings a bell, the bell tower may be found in a recent post about the suspension of belief (aka Yakeen). Wolfgang Petersen serves up a serviceable thriller (which seems destined to look like Citizen Kane once Yakeen hits the marquee) starring Tom Berenger (great choice), Greta Scacchi (good fodder for the erotic visions that Berenger's character and the audience are showered with), Bob Hoskins (the only one who makes a mark in the whole enterprise as Gus Klein, an asthmatic private eye whose day job involves tending a pet store), Corbin Bernsen, and Joanne Whalley-Kilmer. The name Jack Stanton rings a bell ... John Travolta's character in Primary Colors. There's some great production design and camerawork and if you are reminded of the planet surface and the wrecked craft in Alien, you're not alone. The most satisfying aspect of the film for me comprised the numerous odes to Vertigo: elements of the plot, frames and sequences (like the woods during the car chase in the latter half), quotes on Alan Silvestri's soundtrack, and of course, San Francisco. The sole grievance was that the public library only had a formatted-for-your-TV VHS copy. Enjoy the psychogenic amnesia served up on nights in white satin. And yes, Gus Klein's phone number was 555-6176.
Prediction for Yakeen: Saurabh Shukla's detective (the Klein equivalent) may also employ an aspirator (given that it has a crucial role to play in the final act).
Elsewhere: a few notes on X2 appear on this blog ...
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