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The late Wolfgang Petersen made some memorable films in his career. The German director, who first gained international acclaim with the war film Das Boot, went on to traumatize children everywhere with The Never Ending Story and then captivate audiences with movies like In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, and Troy. You’ll also occasionally hear people discuss his box-office flop, Enemy Mine, which later became a cult sci-fi movie. But a Petersen movie that no one talks about has one of the most underrated ending twists of the 1990s, and it’s time to give Shattered its due.
If you didn’t already sense it, there’s a 35-year-old spoiler coming, so if you’re interested in seeing Shattered, now’s the time to watch it and return here later. Give yourself the gift of seeing the movie’s twist without reading about it first! However, if you’ve already seen it or we can’t persuade you to, strap in for a wild ride.
Still here? Alright, then. Like Enemy Mine, 1991’s Shattered was a box-office dud that didn’t wow critics. It wasn’t exactly a star-studded affair either, relying on solid performances from Tom Berenger, Bob Hoskins, and Greta Scacchi, who seemed to understand exactly what each of them should bring to the table in Petersen’s sexy thriller.
Berenger stars as a wealthy businessman called Dan Merrick, who survives a car crash that throws his wife Judith (Scacchi) clear of the wreckage. Unfortunately, he’s left with severe facial injuries and amnesia, but after reconstructive surgery, he returns to his luxurious life. Merrick should probably count himself lucky after going through all that, but he can’t quite seem to settle. Everything feels off. He doesn’t recognize his home, his friends, or even his reflection.
As Judith helps him recover, Dan starts noticing odd things about her behavior and inconsistencies in the story she’s told him. He also begins to understand that he used to be quite the asshole after trying to pal around with his slimy business partner, Jeb Scott (Corbin Bernsen) so he decides to dig deeper into the events that led to his fateful accident with the help of a private investigator called Gus (Hoskins, doing a hilariously over-the-top New York accent).
It’s not long before Dan uncovers a web of lies. He learns that, prior to the crash, his wife had been having an affair with a guy called Jack Stanton, and she eventually reveals to Dan that he’d found out about the affair and killed Stanton in a jealous rage. The two had apparently gotten rid of Stanton’s body together at an old, abandoned shipwreck and had crashed the car after leaving the scene.
That seems like an acceptable twist in the tale, but Shattered isn’t done. Though Judith’s story sounds viable, Dan still isn’t convinced, so he and Gus finally decide to get to the bottom of what the hell actually happened the night of the crash. Exploring the shipwreck, they open a tank of formaldehyde and discover the preserved body of the real Dan Merrick. That’s right, we’ve actually been following poor Jack Stanton with the surgically reconstructed face of Dan Merrick this entire time!
Judith reveals that she was the one who actually killed Dan after he attacked her in a jealous rage, and she and Stanton disposed of the body. Stanton wasn’t comfortable getting away with it. He had second thoughts and decided to go to the police, which sent Judith into a panic at the wheel that led to the late-night crash. In the end, Judith dies in yet another insane car wreck. Luckily, Stanton escapes this one, and the police close in to wipe up all the mess as the credits roll.
It’s a fantastic twist that you don’t see coming, despite a fair amount of signposting. That’s down to some great direction by Petersen and canny editing by Hannes Nikel (Das Boot) and Glenn Farr (The Right Stuff) who collectively manage to keep the truth from the audience until the tail end of the final act.
As a result, Petersen really does his adaptation of Richard Neely’s pulp noir novel The Plastic Nightmare justice. Not only does he pull off the 1969 book’s twists and turns in a more modern setting, but he also deftly uses his middling budget to swing between car chase action, soapy drama, and the spooky chills of the abandoned shipwreck, where his previous experience on Das Boot must have come in handy.
The 1990s were a great time for fans of twisty movies. This was the decade that gave us Fight Club, The Sixth Sense, The Usual Suspects, Primal Fear, and Dark City, to name but a few. Still, Petersen’s thriller has largely been forgotten in that incredible decade of cinema, and we reckon it’s high time that Shattered joined the conversation.
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