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.