I have to say that in spite of myself, I enjoyed "Shattered," an offbeat thriller from 2007 starring Gerard Butler, Maria Bellow, and Pierce Brosnan.

"Shattered" is the story of a gorgeous couple, Butler and Bello, who have a beautiful little girl. Everything is perfect. He's very successful in his career and on the way up. He has an invitation to his boss' posh estate for the weekend, and it's believed there's a partnership about to be offered. She's planning on celebrating her birthday with a friend. A babysitter comes to the house to take care of the little girl. The couple goes off together.

They've been in the car chatting for a few minutes when a man (Brosnan) pops up in the back seat with a gun and threatens them and their child if they don't do exactly as he says. He basically plays mind games with them for the next hour-plus. The husband keeps wanting to defy him and the wife keeps calming him down for the sake of the little girl, since the sitter is connected to the criminal, and they're given to believe their daughter has been taken somewhere.

Okay, that's the basic plot.

My first question was, why wasn't the wife invited on the weekend? I found that strange from the get-go.

The entire time the couple was going through this mental torture, I didn't understand why they weren't smarter in trying to contact the police or someone who could help them. I was really angry.

I loved, loved, loved the first twist. The second twist, not so much. Someone here said it was a stretch. Boy, was it. Too much of a stretch.

It seems like every film has to have a twist today and with these thrillers there's competition to out-twist any other twist. This one went too far.

So to sum up, I'd say Shattered is both suspenseful and frustrating with good performances. It's a great rental. Don't know how I would have felt if I'd seen it in the theater.

MAJOR SPOILERS

As thrillers go, this one is pretty stupid. Gerard Butler plays Neil Randall a hot-shot advertising executive with a perfect family in the form of gorgeous Maria Bello and their young daughter. The thing is, Tom's a little too smug from the outset, which made me dislike him immediately. He goes through the motions of stepping aside to allow a colleague a stab at proving himself but, when his suggestion is turned down, chooses not to promote his colleague's talents to his boss. He also drives a 4x4 in the city, a sure indicator that the guy is as bankrupt of values as – it eventually turns out – he is scruples.

Into the Randall's picture-perfect life steps the mysterious stubble-chinned Tom Ryan (Pierce Brosnan) who, with sinister ease, adeptly picks apart the threads of their cosy existence. Ryan oozes menace with his weathered features and bog-Irish accent. Brosnan is actually quite good, even though his character's motives remain a mystery for most of the film and writer William Morrissey is unable to add any kind of dimension to his character. Brosnan's accent had me thinking Randall had somehow fallen foul of the IRA, but the truth is far more fantastical than that.

The trouble with films like these – and Nick of Time is the film that immediately springs to mind – is that the main characters are under such relentless pressure throughout that at no point during the film do they or the viewer have a chance to sit back and consider what has happened. It's all rush, rush, rush: withdraw their cash, find money for dinner, deliver an incriminating package, unravel cryptic riddles, keep the increasingly volatile Ryan placated, hunt for kidnapped daughter. After a half-hour of this it all starts becoming a little tiresome – and increasingly far-fetched.

After 90-minutes of cat-and-mouse escapades it turns out that the whole thing is an elaborate charade devised by wifey to get back at her errant husband for having an affair with his secretary – Ryan's wife. Most women would satisfy themselves with cutting up his suits and painting a few insults questioning his parentage on that big shiny Chelsea tractor of his, but that would really be just a little too true to life. Sounds like these two pretty much deserve each other if you ask me