Colorado Archives – CULTURE MIX

Review: ‘Elevation’ (2024), starring Anthony Mackie, Morena Baccarin and Maddie Hasson

November 30, 2024

by Carla Hay

Morena Baccarin, Maddie Hasson and Anthony Mackie in “Elevation” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

“Elevation” (2024)

Directed by George Nolfi

Culture Representation: Taking place in Colorado, the sci-fi action film “Elevation” features a cast of African American and white characters, who are survivors of a creature-invasion apocalypse on Earth.

Culture Clash: A man and two women race against time to get medical supplies for the man’s 8-year-old son, while the adults battle the creatures, which cannot live above 8,000 feet.

Culture Audience: “Elevation” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of stars Anthony Mackie and Morena Baccarin and don’t mind watching sci-fi movies that have derivative and sloppy storytelling.

Anthony Mackie and Danny Boyd Jr. in “Elevation” (Photo courtesy of Vertical)

“Elevation” is a misleading title for a movie with below-average storytelling. This sci-fi action flick, which takes place during an Earth apocalypse caused by giant creatures, has competent acting but is substandard in everything else. “Elevation” introduces multiple concepts but leaves many different questions unanswered by the end of the film.

Directed by George Nolfi, “Elevation” was written by John Glenn, Jacob Roman and Kenny Ryan, who filled the screenplay with a lot of dimwitted scenarios, boring dialogue and exposition dumps. The movie was filmed on location in Colorado, where “Elevation” is supposed to take place somewhere in the Rocky Mountains area. The story begins three years after an apocalypse where mysterious giant creatures (which look like a combination of lizards and scorpions) rose up from the underground and killed 95% of Earth’s population in just one month. The apocalypse has left the survivors with no electricity or modern communication.

This worldwide massacre is not seen in any flashbacks. All that is seen in “Elevation” are how survivors in this part of Colorado are living and trying not to get killed by the creatures, which the survivors are calling “reapers.” The reapers have one big physical limitation: They cannot survive in any space that’s at least 8,000 feet above the ground. Anything below 8,000 feet on Earth is called “below The Line,” where the reapers live. People who venture below The Line are at great risk of being killed by a reaper or reapers.

The Lost Gulf Refuge, which has a population of 193 people, is 8,460 feet above the ground. Among the Lost Gulf Refuge residents are a brave widower named Will (played by Anthony Mackie); Will’s 8-year-old son Hunter (played by Danny Boyd Jr.); a hard-drinking and cranky physicist named Nina Richmond (played by Morena Baccarin); and Will’s good-natured close friend Katie (played by Maddie Hasson), who was the best friend of Will’s deceased wife Tara (played by Rachel Nicks). Tara is seen in some flashback scenes in the movie.

“Elevation” begins by showing that Hunter has gone 260 feet below The Line in the wooded area, even though he knows it’s strictly forbidden for him to be there. And you know what that means: Hunter gets chased by a reaper. He narrowly escapes death by throwing himself into an area on the ground that is surrounded by a circle of white rocks.

In another part of the movie, certain characters also are able to survive a chase from reapers in the woods by going to an area that is surrounded by a circle of white rocks. “Elevation” is so terribly written, the movie never explains why these areas surrounded by circles of white rocks give special protection from the reapers. And there’s no explanation for who put those rocks there and why the people being chased just happened to know that these rock circles give special protection.

When Hunter goes back home after escaping from being killed by a reaper, he gets scolded by Will for making the life-risking choice to go below The Line. “I just wanted to see other people,” Hunter explains. Katie is sympathetic to Hunter and says to Will: “We may be safe up here, but this mountaintop is like a prison to him.” Will says he knows the real reason why Hunter went back to a specific area in the woods below The Line is because it was the last place where Hunter saw his mother Tara.

Concerned father Will soon has something bigger to worry about than this act of rebellion from Hunter. Hunter uses an oxygen tank at night, and their household is almost out of filters for the tank. These filters are necessary for Hunter to survive. Will knows that he can probably find unused filters at an abandoned hospital in the city of Boulder. However, Boulder is about 2,000 feet below The Line.

It’s explained early on in the movie that Nina is the only known human who has been able to kill a reaper. She’s been obsessed with trying to find a scientific way to kill these creatures and sharing that knowledge with people so she can be credited with literally saving the world. Nina is an abrasive loner who abuses alcohol, so she hasn’t been making much progress with her research.

Still, when it comes time for Will to make his dangerous trek to Boulder, he asks Nina go with him. Will persuades her by saying, “All you can think about is killing one of these things, and you need something from down there to do it. You owe me this much, for Tara.”

Will and Nina have a tense relationship because he blames her for Tara’s death, for reasons that are explained in the movie. Maddie also dislikes rude and arrogant Nina. At one point, the two women get into a physical fight.

Nina makes an insulting remark by saying to Maddie: “You want to fuck your best friend’s husband.” Maddie responds by punching Nina. Maddie also accuses Nina of only wanting the kill the reapers so that Nina can be famous. This is the type of cattiness that looks like it belongs on a tacky reality show, not a sci-fi movie that’s supposed to be suspenseful.

Will, Nina and Maddie arm themselves with military-styled rifles that they get from a guy named Tim (played by Tyler Grey), who hands them the weapons from a back room in his store, with no questions asked and no signs of a transaction being made. It all looks so phony. Even though it’s made clear in the movie that the reapers can’t be killed (only wounded) by the ammunition in these guns, these are the best weapons available to Will, Nina and Maddie at the time.

On the way to Boulder, there is more bickering between Will, Nina and Maddie. And then, the inevitable happens: The reapers appear. There are encounters with the reapers that involve trying to escape on ski lifts, inside a mine shaft, and in a truck.

One of the biggest problems with “Elevation” is that many of the action scenes look fake—not just with the visual effects but also with how everything is staged. At the mine shaft, helmets with flashlights are conveniently there for Will, Nina and Maddie to wear. The ski lifts are conveniently not rusty.

When they go in the mine shaft, Will has a vague idea that there will be a tunnel leading to the hospital. But why would they go in a mine shaft when they know these creatures have a tendency to live and thrive underground? None of it really makes any sense because the entire movie is just a poorly conceived story that rips off some aspects of 2018’s “A Quiet Place,” another apocalypse movie with giant creatures that have a big physical liability.

The production design for “Elevation” is off-kilter. Most of the buildings looks desolate and shabby, as they should during a massive disaster such as an apocalypse that started three years ago. But during the trek to Boulder, there are scenes where the travelers stay overnight in a lodge that looks pristine and picture-perfect, with a cozy library full of books in the lounge area and beautifully lit candles everywhere. (There are no lodge employees in sight.) You’d never know there’s an apocalypse going on, with shortages of food and other resources, just by looking at how clean and well-stocked this lodge is.

In reality, this lodge would have been looted or destroyed a long time ago, based on how an earlier scene makes a big deal out of showing that something as simple as a box of macaroni (which Will gets from a store to make mac and cheese for Hunter’s birthday) is scarce in this post-apocalyptic world. And speaking of food, during this trip to Boulder, which takes place over at least two days, the travelers are never seen worried about how they’re going to get their next meal in this world that has food shortages. It’s as if the “Elevation” filmmakers wanted to erase any need for the characters to have these basic life necessities because the movie becomes so focused on the not-very-convincing action scenes.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect of the plot in “Elevation” is a surprise reveal that comes toward the end of the movie. It’s supposed to be shocking information, but the information is dropped like a bomb and never addressed again. And the movie has a laughably bad way of presenting a certain solution to the reaper problem. “Elevation” has a talented cast that deserves much better than this low-quality dreck that most viewers will forget quicker than it takes for a reaper to kill someone in the movie.

Vertical released “Elevation” in U.S. cinemas on November 8, 2024. The movie was released on digital and VOD on November 26, 2024.

Review: ‘¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!,’ starring Trey Parker, Matt Stone, Scott Shoemaker and Dana Rodriguez

September 8, 2024

by Carla Hay

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!”

Directed by Arthur Bradford

Culture Representation: Taking place mostly in the Colorado municipality of Lakewood and briefly in the Los Angeles area, from 2021 to 2023, the documentary film “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” has a predominantly white group of people (with a few Latin people and African Americans) who are connected in some way to Casa Bonita, a theme park-styled Mexican restaurant in Lakewood.

Culture Clash: “South Park” and “The Book of Mormon” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone buy Casa Bonita out of bankruptcy and encounter many high-priced obstacles in their quest to re-open the restaurant.

Culture Audience: “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Parker and Stone and are interested in watching a documentary about reviving a beloved business.

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” (which means “Pretty House My Love!” in Spanish) is a predictable but enjoyable documentary about the challenges that Trey Parker and Matt Stone had in re-opening the Colorado restaurant Casa Bonita. Parker makes the movie amusing, but aspects of the eatery’s Mexican heritage get sidelined for his antics. It’s also a movie about persistence and the power of childhood nostalgia.

Directed by Arthur Bradford, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” had its world premiere at the 2024 Tribeca Festival, where it won the Audience Award in the documentary category. “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” (which was filmed from 2021 to 2023) takes place primarily in Lakewood, Colorado, the municipality where Casa Bonita is located and is one of the top tourist attractions in the Denver area. Lakewood is about nine miles southwest of Denver. As of the 2020 U.S. census, Lakewood’s population was reported as 103,355 people, with 66% identifying as white and 23% identifying as Hispanic/Latin of any race. Hispanics/Latin people are the fastest growing ethnic group in Lakewood.

Casa Bonita, which has live entertainment and amusement attractions, has been called “the Disneyland of Mexican restaurants.” The size of the venue (whose exterior is painted in “dusty pink”) is about 52,000 square feet and includes a labyrinth of man-made caves and indoor grottos. Casa Bonita was founded in 1973 by spouses Bill Waugh and Frances Waugh, who then sold the restaurant in 1982 for $32.5 million to a United Kingdom-based company called Wingate, which let Casa Bonita decline into dangerous disrepair because Wingate didn’t want to spend money on the necessary maintenance.

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” has a brief interview with Frances Waugh, who says that she and husband Bill (who died in 2015 at age 79) immediately regretted selling Casa Bonita and thought about buying it back, but it was too late. The documentary has archival footage of Bill doing a TV interview where he expresses the same remorse about selling Casa Bonita. In the late 2010s, before the COVID-19 pandemic destroyed many hospitality businesses, Casa Bonita (despite being run-down and having low-quality food) was getting about 5,000 customers a day. Casa Bonita shut down in 2020, because of the COVID-19 pandemic. And then, Casa Bonita declared bankruptcy.

Parker and Stone (the award-winning creators of the animated comedy series “South Park” and the stage musical “The Book of Mormon”) grew up in the Lakewood/Denver area and frequented Casa Bonita during their childhoods. “South Park” has had references to Casa Bonita and the Lakewood area in multiple episodes. In 2021, Parker and Stone announced that they had purchased Casa Bonita and planned to re-open it. “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” chronicles this turbulent journey, which includes the original re-opening budget of $6.5 million soaring to $40 million because of all the costs to repair the extensive damage and disrepair in Casa Bonita.

It’s important to have all of this background information (which the documentary includes) because there’s significant discussion in “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” about Parker and Stone wanting to preserve the restaurant’s original themes that highlighted Mexican heritage. (For example, mariachi bands have been a vital part of Casa Bonita’s live entertainment.) The documentary shows Parker traveling to Mexico with Dana “Loca” Rodriguez, who was hired to be the executive chef of the re-opened Casa Bonita, so that Parker can learn more about Mexican food, drinks and culture.

However, the documentary shows that in the months leading up to restaurant’s re-opening in June 2023, Parker (who is more personally involved than Stone in re-opening Casa Bonita) is more concerned about the very Anglo-American aspects of the entertainment at Casa Bonita. He fixates on small details, such as changing an animatronic cowboy’s wardrobe to wear a Farrah Fawcett T-shirt when Parker makes an inconvenient decision to suddenly revamp the cowboys in Casa Bonita to be from the 1970s instead of the 1870s. This decision is a direct result of Parker’s childhood memories of going to Casa Bonita when he was a kid in the 1970s.

In another scene in the documentary, Parker is shown getting inspiration for Casa Bonita not from native Mexican culture but from hearing that Elvis Presley starred in a 1963 movie called “Fun in Acapulco.” “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” predictably includes clips from the movie but repeatedly erases native Mexican culture from the documentary. If not for the name of the restaurant, you could watch this documentary and think that it’s not even a Mexican restaurant because of how Mexican culture is diminished or ignored in the movie.

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” has a few scenes that briefly show some Mexican-themed entertainment and decor, such as a mariachi band and some Day of the Dead decorations and props. However, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” fails to mention what Parker learned from his trip or trips to Mexico. Instead, the documentary shows Parker making a series of joking quips every time he gets more bad news about something that will delay or increase the cost of re-opening Casa Bonita.

Casa Bonita executive chef Rodriguez is the only person of color who is shown in a leadership role for Casa Bonita. She has an interesting background that is quickly mentioned in the documentary. In a documentary interview, Rodriguez (who immigrated from Mexico the United States in 1998) says that she applied for a dishwasher job at Casa Bonita shortly after moving to the area. She was rejected because she was told she wasn’t qualified. Rodriguez says she got her nickname Loca (which means crazy female in Spanish) when she went on a rant against a racist who scolded her for speaking Spanish in an incident that didn’t take place at Casa Bonita.

Years later, Parker says in the documentary that Rodriguez was his first choice to hire as the re-opened Casa Bonita’s executive chef, based on recommendations and his “gut instinct.” When she was hired for the re-opened Casa Bonita, Rodriguez had become the James Beard-nominated owner/executive chef of Cantina Loca. (Cantina Loca closed for business in 2024). Rodriguez going from being a rejected dishwasher applicant to an executive chef at Casa Bonita is an ironic and incredible comeback story that “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” seems to dismiss by only showing Rodriguez attending Casa Bonita staff meetings or being a travel guide for Parker during their trip to Mexico.

For a documentary about the re-opening of a restaurant, executive chef Rodriguez and her staff don’t get as much screen time as they should. The documentary features several interviews with unnamed customers who say they want the re-opened Casa Bonita to have better food than the original Casa Bonita. And yet, the items on the menu and the dynamics of the kitchen and server staff are never detailed in the documentary. (Showing a plate of soft tacos being served doesn’t count.)

There are a few short scenes where an unidentified kitchen manager shows concerns about how the computer-operated machines were not working correctly in taking custom orders, so those glitches needed to be corrected. There are no scenes of Rodriguez training any kitchen staff or showing how she created the revamped Casa Bonita’s new menu. She did all of that, of course, but it’s just not in this movie.

Instead, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” spends a lot of time showing construction manager Scott Shoemaker fretting and fuming about all the costs and delays involved in renovating Casa Bonita. (An epilogue in the movie mentions that Shoemaker and Rodriguez fell in love and became a couple, but whatever romance they had is not in the documentary.) Casa Bonita art director Chris Spellman, Dan Jennison of Jennison Studios, Charles S. McQuerry of Show Construction and project electrician Steve Bender are among those who provide commentary about the renovations.

Also featured are Casa Bonita entertainment director Ben Schrader and Casa Bonita entertainment manager Amber Blais, who supervise the costumed entertainers who depict characters in the restaurant. When Parker admittedly causes chaos by making drastic changes on short notice, Blais is seen tactfully navigating these changes and saying that they can make the adjustments. (After all, she’s not going be foolish enough to go on camera to complain about one of the owners of the place that’s employing her.)

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” shows in great detail how Parker and Stone see firsthand that they bought a dump filled with safety violations and health hazards. When Parker visits the closed Casa Bonita after becoming a co-owner, he quips that the restaurant still has the same familiar smell of “chlorine and beans.” Parker is more hands-on in the renovation process, which Stone freely admits he is more comfortable letting Parker handle. “He’s a romantic,” Stone says of Parker’s attitude about revamping Casa Bonita. “The kid in him is very much alive.”

Stone and Parker, who are based in the Los Angeles area, are shown commuting to Casa Bonita in between doing their work for “South Park” in Los Angeles. The documentary includes some footage of the duo recording some “South Park” voice sessions. South Park” and “The Book of Mormon” executive producer Anne Garefino provides some short commentary about Parker and Stone having to juggle their “South Park” jobs with the Casa Bonita commitments.

Among the problems encountered in renovating Casa Bonita includes an indoor diving pool where the diver employees had a very unsafe area to change outfits where they could’ve easily been electrocuted. The restaurant had a lot of outdated electrical wiring and deteriorating equipment. One of the most alarming discoveries was a massive structure beam that had no foundation (there was literally a hole where the floor should’ve been to hold up the beam), and this defective beam would’ve caused the building to collapse if there had been an earthquake-level shake-up to the building.

The documentary includes interviews with several former associates of Casa Bonita, including Phil Phillips, the restaurant’s original designer and builder. He remembers the reaction when people saw and heard about the flamboyantly pink Casa Bonita: “Every single person from Denver said, ‘Why are you doing this? This is not going to work. Nobody is going to come here.'” Proving the skeptics wrong, Casa Bonita became an immediate hit, although the restaurant’s eventual decline tarnished its reputation.

An eclectic mix of other former Casa Bonita employees also give sound bites in the documentary interviews. The former employees include Paul Vinyard, who was Casa Bonita’s president from 1975 to 1981; Paul Lang, Casa Bonita’s first art director; and Don Shannon, who worked for Casa Bonita from 1981 to 1990. Some of them have fond memories of Casa Bonita, while others do not. Chad Wonder, who was a Casa Bonita magician in 2015, says: “The cave smelled like urine.” Jim “JB” Brown, who was a Casa Bonita employee from 1974 to 1980, says he became so disgusted by the slovenly conditions at Casa Bonita, he contacted corporate headquarters to request that his name be removed from the employee honor roll that was listed at the restaurant.

Also interviewed in the documentary, with only quick comments shown, are Don Whitcomb, author of “The Casa Bonita You Never Knew”; Ramiro Cazaux, art director of Park County; Carly Pric, company manager of Park County; Bethel Lindsley, Casa Bonita dive team leader; and Casa Bonita employee Luis Barron Elias, who says of Casa Bonita: “We like to say it’s our restaurant because it’s our family.”

“¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” includes a few appearances by Colorado governor Jared Polis, who obviously has a friendly relationship with Parker and Stone. Polis is shown during an on-stage speaking appearance at a “South Park” 25th anniversary concert in 2022, at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado. Polis half-jokingly comments on stage that Colorado went from having the ninth lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. to the fourth lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. because of the contractors and subcontractors working at Casa Bonita.

Despite all the trials and tribulations, Parker and Stone show determination in seeing things through, even though their Casa Bonita investment is considered to be a “money pit.” Parker says repeatedly that his commitment to the project has everything to do with wanting people to get the same feeling from Casa Bonita that he had as a child but make it an even better experience with big improvements from the original Casa Bonita. The documentary also features brief appearances from Trey’s father Randy Parker and Trey’s daughter Betty Parker, who give their reactions to the renovated Casa Bonita.

Because the outcome of this renovation is already well-known, there is no suspense in “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!,” a documentary that is essentially another marketing tool for Casa Bonita. This documentary is from a perspective that makes it almost looks like “The Trey Parker Show,” while everyone else is a supporting character. If people don’t mind seeing a very filtered look at what went into renovating and reopening this well-known restaurant, “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” can be entertaining enough to watch, even when you can tell that a lot of interesting things were left out of the movie.

MTV Documentary Films released “¡Casa Bonita Mi Amor!” in Denver on September 6, 2024, with an expansion to more U.S. cities on September 13, 2024. Paramount+ will premiere the movie on October 2, 2024.

Review: ‘Shattered’ (2022), starring Cameron Monaghan, Frank Grillo, Lilly Krug and John Malkovich

February 9, 2022

by Carla Hay

Frank Grillo, Cameron Monaghan and Lilly Krug in “Shattered” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

“Shattered” (2022)

Directed by Luis Prieto

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed city in Colorado, the dramatic film “Shattered” features a nearly all-white cast of characters (with two African Americans and one Asian) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A tech multimillionaire gets in a sexual relationship with an alluring young woman and finds out that she has sinister intentions for him.

Culture Audience: “Shattered” will appeal mainly to people who like watching tacky crime thrillers.

John Malkovich in “Shattered” (Photo courtesy of Lionsgate)

Trashy and utterly predictable, “Shattered” dumbs down all the stereotypes of a murderous female sociopath who seduces an unlucky lover. John Malkovich’s campy performance as a creepy voyeur can’t even save this mess. Malkovich has a supporting role in this formulaic dud of a movie, which he helped finance, since he’s one of the producers of “Shattered.” There used to be a time when Oscar-nominated Malkovich was known for his edgy roles in artsy movies. And now, he’s reduced to making B-movie garbage.

Directed by Luis Prieto and written by David Loughery, “Shattered” has trailers (red-band and green-band) that give away 90% of what happens in the film’s plot. The only thing that’s not shown in the “Shattered” trailers is who survives and who’s dead at the end of the movie. But even the deaths are very easy to predict.

Loughery has a history of writing schlocky movies about people being terrorized by deranged killers who at first appear to be friendly: His six previous movies are 2008’s “Lakeview Terrace,” 2009’s “Obsessed,” 2013’s “Blindsided,” 2013’s “Nurse,” 2019’s “The Intruder” and 2020’s “Fatale.” All of them end exactly how you think they’re going to end.

“Shattered” has a concept that’s very similar to “Fatale.” Both movies are a ripoff of the “Fatal Attraction” template: A married man gets involved with a seductive woman, who turns out to be a ruthless psycho, and she’s out for bloody revenge when she doesn’t get what she wants.

At least “Fatale” made some effort to have a few surprise twists, even if the ending was a foregone conclusion. There are absolutely no real surprises in “Shattered,” especially if you’ve seen the trailer before watching the movie. Even the movie title “Shattered” is unimaginative and lazy.

The married man in “Shattered” is actually close to getting divorced. He just hasn’t signed the paperwork yet. He’s a retired tech multimillionaire named Chris Decker (played by Cameron Monaghan), who lives in seclusion in a sleek mansion somewhere in the Colorado mountains. (“Shattered” was actually filmed in Montana.)

The movie’s opening scene shows Chris in a video chat with his estranged wife Jamie Decker (woodenly played by Sasha Luss), as they discuss their impending divorce. Chris and Jamie have an adopted daughter named Willow (played by Ridley Asha Bateman), who’s about 7 or 8 years old. Jamie and Chris both adore Willow very much. It’s not mentioned how long Chris and Jamie have been separated, but Jamie has full custody of Willow, while Chris has visitation rights.

During this conversation, Chris says remorsefully to Jamie: “I should’ve fought harder to keep us together.” Later, it’s revealed that Chris founded a tech company that he sold for millions, and he retired from working. But his financial success came at a cost to his marriage, because Jamie says that Chris cared more about the company than saving the marriage. Chris tells Jamie that he only sold his company for the money.

Chris now has a lot of time on his hands, but it’s too late, because Jamie and Willow no longer live with him. Chris’ regret over how his marriage ended is the main reason why he hasn’t signed the divorce papers yet. Jamie tells Chris that it’s time for both of them to move on with their lives. And so, Chris finally agrees to sign the divorce papers and says he’ll talk to a lawyer they know named Kendall about it.

After she gets off of the phone with Chris, Jamie is seen talking to Willow, who is an adorable and perceptive child. Willow tells Jamie that she misses Chris. Jamie tells Willow that people can love each other but not be together. This opening scene is less than five minutes long, and it’s as far as the movie goes in showing a backstory for any of the characters.

The movie vaguely describes Chris as a security technology expert. Therefore, his mansion is supposed to be decked out in a lot of the latest security systems. It’s all for nothing though, because Chris lets someone into his life who turns out to be a homicidal menace who wants to steal his fortune.

Her name is Skyler “Sky” Webb (played by Lilly Krug), who appears to be a sweet and innocent college-aged woman when Chris meets her one evening while he’s shopping at a grocery store, and she asks him to recommend a bottle of wine. The movie has a clunky and not-very-believable way of explaining why multimillionaire Chris does all of his own grocery shopping: He’s such a recluse, he doesn’t have any servants.

But why then doesn’t “reclusive tech whiz” Chris do any of his grocery shopping online or call to place orders for delivery? Don’t expect any logical answers in “Shattered,” because it’s the type of movie that has too many unanswered questions and illogical plot holes. And if Chris were as smart as he thinks he is, he wouldn’t have been so easily fooled by Sky. Chris and Sky exchange flirty looks during their conversation, and then they go their separate ways.

Outside of the grocery store, Chris sees Sky looking anxious. She explains to him that her Uber ride cancelled her appointment. Without hesitation, Chris offers Sky a ride to her home. Is it bad judgment to offer a ride to a total stranger or accept a ride from a total stranger under these circumstances? Of course. But people do it a lot in real life, and movies like “Shattered” wouldn’t exist if everyone used good judgment.

During this drive, Sky says that she and her roommate, whom she calls “Loony Lisa,” had an argument, so Sky is reluctant to go back to her apartment. Chris, who’s clearly attracted to Sky, then invites Sky to spend the night at his place. Sky appears to be reluctant and says no at first, but then she says yes.

After Chris shows Sky a little bit of his mansion (including his wine cellar, because he says he’s a “wine nerd”), he asks her what she does for a living. Sky says that she’s a model, but she has a night job working at a bar whose name she mentions in the conversation. Chris and Sky hook up, and their steamy affair begins.

After spending the night with Chris, Sky goes back to her place, which is a shabby apartment building that looks like it used to be a motel. The building’s owner/landlord is a weirdo named Ronald (played by Malkovich), who happens to live right next door to Sky and her roommate Lisa (played by Ash Santos), who are two weeks’ behind on their rent. It’s later revealed that Lisa has been living there for eight years, while Sky moved in more recently. Ronald tells Lisa, “You were happier before Sky moved in … I’m not only your landlord. I’m your friend.”

Ronald’s proximity to Sky and Lisa allows him to easily spy on them. When Sky comes home, he knows she spent the night elsewhere. Ronald looks through the window and says with disgust, “Walk of shame!” He’s by himself when he utters this remark, which is the first sign that Ronald talks out loud to himself when he’s alone.

Ronald also shows his disdain for Sky when he warns her about not paying the rent: “Don’t play games with me. I’m not the kind of man you want to trifle with.” When he makes this threat, Ronald holds up a rose and makes a lewd licking gesture with his tongue—in case it wasn’t clear enough that Ronald is a sleazy jerk.

Lisa is upset that Sky spent the night somewhere without saying where she was. Ronald is annoyed that Sky doesn’t seem to care about the unpaid rent. Sky brushes off Lisa and Ronald, as if she can’t be bothered with them. Why? Because her plan has already been set in motion to get Chris’ money.

Because Sky deliberately didn’t give Chris her phone number, he tracks her down at the bar where she works. And that’s when he tells her that he’s about to be divorced and that he’s a father of a daughter who visits him on a regular basis. She admits to him that she lied to him about coming from a gypsy family. Sky says that she actually grew up in foster care and she thinks of herself as “damaged goods.” Chris says he was raised by his parents, but “they weren’t there for me.” This sob story exchange about their childhoods seems to make Chris feel a deeper bond to Sky.

One night, Sky and Chris are out on a date when they see a man trying to break into Chris’ car in the parking lot. Chris attempts to stop the man, who has a crowbar and viciously beats Chris and then runs away. The assault leaves Chris with a broken right leg and other injuries that require him to use a wheelchair or crutches to move around.

After he gets discharged from the hospital, guess who Chris decides is going to be his live-in nurse, even though she has no medical experience? It isn’t long before Chris tells Sky that he’s in love with her. Because Chris is on various medications for his injuries, she jokes in response: “It’s the drugs.”

Chris finds out that Sky is up to no good when he sees on the local TV news that her roommate Lisa was found murdered in their apartment and that the police are looking for Sky. When he asks Sky about it, she nonchalantly confesses that she was the one who murdered Lisa, who was not only her roommate but also her lover. (None of this is spoiler information, because it’s all in the movie’s red-band trailer.) And then all hell breaks loose.

The trailer for “Shattered” also reveals that Sky knows the man who beat up Chris because the assault was all a set-up masterminded by Sky. The attacker’s name is Kiju (played by Dat Phan), and he pays a visit to Sky in Chris’ home, after Chris finds out that Sky targeted him to get his money. Jonathan discovers that Sky is now living with Chris, so he goes to Chris’ mansion too, because Sky owes him money, and Jonathan wants to see how he can get money from this millionaire too. You can easily guess what happens to Jonathan.

Another cohort of Sky’s shows up in the last third of the movie. His name is Sebastian (played by Frank Grillo), who is not only her stepfather but he’s also Sky’s lover. Chris meets Sebastian when Chris almost escapes outside, and Sebastian pretends to be a Good Samaritan who picks Chris up in his car. When Sebastian hands Chris his phone to call for help, Chris finds out that Sebastian had really called Sky, and Sebastian has driven back to the mansion, where Sky is waiting for them. (Again, this plot twist is in the movie’s trailer.)

“Shattered” has a relatively small number of people in the movie’s cast. And since there’s a limited number of characters who are expected to live or die in the movie, it’s only a matter of time when Jamie and Willow show up at the mansion for a pre-arranged visit. They’re in for a shock when they find out that Chris is being held hostage. Who gets killed and what happens when Jamie and Willow show up are really the only parts of the movie’s plot that aren’t revealed in the trailers for “Shattered.”

One of the biggest problems with the movie, besides the terrible screenplay and direction, is that the performances are incompatible. Krug, Grillo and Malkovich ham it up, as if they know they’re in a cheesy B-movie and can’t take anything too seriously. Meanwhile, Monaghan and Luss are dead-serious and act as if they think they’re in a Hitchcock masterpiece. When a movie’s acting is this inconsistent, the fault ultimately lies with the director, who didn’t correct this problem while filming the movie.

But even if “Shattered” had Oscar-caliber acting, it still couldn’t erase how creatively bankrupt everything else is in the film. Sometimes, tawdry and predictable thrillers can be fun to watch if the tone is right and the characters are engaging. “Shattered” has none of those qualities and is as empty and forgettable as the movie’s entire story.

Lionsgate released “Shattered” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on January 14, 2022. The movie is set for release on Blu-ray and DVD on February 22, 2022.