Butterfly On A Wheel a.k.a. Shattered -DVD must

Being a fan of Gerard Butler, probably for all the wrong reasons, I had decided a while back to watch all of his movies from the beginning of his career to now. Mind you, for those of you unfamiliar with his work, please note he is a versatile actor and watching him in any role is most entertaining. One movie which stuck in my mind in particular is titled “Butterfly On A Wheel” in the U.S. (a.k.a Shattered – Japan, Desperate Hours and The Butterfly – elsewhere).

Nonetheless, the movie is a drama/thriller about a lawyer named Neil Randall (played by Butler) and his family’s trial and tribulations during a kidnapper’s (played by Pierce Bronson) brutal demands. That is all I am going to say without giving away to much.

The storyline in my opinion is very well organized throughout the film. It leaves you in suspense and on the edge of your seat since you have no idea where it’s going and just when you think you have it down, the plot takes a new course and you are once again baffled at the new direction. Butler and Bronson do a good job playing victim and villain, while Maria Bello, who plays Butler’s wife remains flat and boring as usual. The one outstanding performance, again in my opinion, was that of Claudette Mink

Also, the film didn’t do well I think mostly because the title was introducted to the American audience as Butterfly On A Wheel during the promo trailer shown in theatres during the P.S. I Love You showing and then somehow the movie never made it in the theatres and soon thereafter the title was changed to Shattered and released to paid per view. So at this point your best bet is to look under both titles when trying to rent the DVD. I highly recommend watching the movie no matter what the title.