From its title to its box art, Shattered feels a bit familiar. A couple (Gerard Butler, Maria Bello) is terrorized by a troubled man (Pierce Brosnan) who tells them he has kidnapped their daughter and will kill her if they don’t do his bidding. The couple is given a variety of tasks to do all around Chicago while fighting for their lives—and that of their daughter. Brosnan gives a scenery-chewing performance, instilling fear in this couple. Also, Bello and Butler do what they can with a screenplay in which subtlety is absent. The movie provides a few pulse-pounding moments, but as it plays on, the plausibility of the situations, as well as the machinations of the plot, begin to wear thin.

Shelf Talk: Shattered has a very attractive, sellable cast, starring Brosnan, the former James Bond; Butler, the star of 300; and Bello, the leading lady of David Cronenberg’s most commercially accessible movie, A History of Violence. Consumers looking for a thriller with quick pacing and a few twists could have a fun time with this title, as long as they don’t take it too seriously. And Brosnan’s fans should be interested in seeing him move away from his usually heroic roles to play the bad guy here.