Shuttle
by Edward Anderson
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DVD details
Actor: Cameron Goodman, Peyton List, Tony CurranDirector: Edward Anderson
Brand: Magnolia Pictures
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
Picture Format: 2.35:1
Running Time: 107 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2009-04-07
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Model: 10183
Studio: Magnolia Home Entertainment
Product features:
- When Jules (Cameron Goodman) and Mel (Peyton List) return from a girls weekend vacation, they find themselves stranded at the airport, late on a rain-drenched night. Wanting just to get home safe and sound, they board an airport shuttle with a helpful, friendly driver (Tony Curran) for the short trip. that turns out to be anything but safe. From writer-director Edward Anderson, making his directo
DVD Reviews of Shuttle
DVD Review: A dark, suspenseful and gruesome ride - and a 4 star debut
Summary: 3 Stars
3 1/2 stars
Amazingly well made film for a writer/director's debut film. I don't understand why the film got almost unanimously and terribly panned by critics except that the ending of this film must have pissed off allot of people.
I read a number of reviews from top critics who used descriptive words such as remorseless, utter hopelessness, despair, vile, tasteless. These critics neglected that fact that Shuttle is a debut film for it's director and as first film its extremely well done. Compare the quality and subject matter of Shuttle to debut films of some other directors...say... Francis Coppola - Dementia 13- egad, or James Cameron - Piranha II for god's sake! Shuttle wipes these other directors first films off the map.
I do agree with allot of folks who seemed to find a flaw in the film. - That if you think too much about the decisions of the characters, (in particular, the shuttle driver) there is some plot directions that don't gel. So just don't think about it.
Otherwise Shuttle delivers for what it is - a taut, very dark, sometimes gruesome, action, suspenseful cats and mice thriller. It has lots of atmosphere, very good photography, an appropriate soundtrack and some really excellent performances - especially the shuttle driver and the two lead actresses. The only character who I had some problem with was the very wimpy accountant. A bit too much of a stereotype for me. Maybe not the actors fault.
I liked the way the director and editors gave the film an interesting rhythm. The film has stretches of an almost quiet, dark, forboding, nervous atmosphere that is occasionally peppered with sudden jolts of very quick violence - over as quickly as it starts. Then back to the dark, quiet, nervous atmosphere again. This effect gives the film an unsettling off tempo feel where anything might happen at any moment.
Another achievement is that most of the film takes place within the confined space of a small shuttle bus with very large windows. The effect is very good as the audience is constantly aware of the bleak landscapes of old oil refineries and the deserted industrial areas surrounding the passengers. The color scheme outside the bus seem to be a rich mixture of black and blue shadows and very distant dim lights.
Anderson showed a superior knack with the use of violence in the film and kept the film out of exploitative gore territory. You feel you are seeing allot of violence but in reality Anderson keeps most of it in your imagination. He uses no gore close ups, or slow-mo nor does he linger on acts of violence (except for one nerve racking asphyxiation) as what is so common these days. The worst bits of violence take place off screen or at far distances or are over so fast that you hardly see it happen. His other trick is to just show only the after effects such as some severed fingers in the road or a bandage covering a burn. It's a case where what you don't see is always more disturbing and frightful then what you do see.
So other then one odd performance and the already mentioned plot holes - Shuttle is a very good suspenseful, edge of your seat film that has lots of twists and turns. Except for one major problem - the ending.
The ending is why I can't recommend the film to most folks or give the film heaps of stars.
I regretfully can't recommend Shuttle to anyone as film to watch and enjoy as a suspense, action or edge of your seat thriller. For you see Anderson made the mistake that Hitchcock warned all directors about. That if you put the audience into suspense - by lets say - showing the audience a ticking time bomb in room full of people then let the audience stew like that for an extended period of time - then director should never let the bomb go off and kill anyone.
Well Anderson let the bomb go off all right - more then once - and then dropped an atom bomb at then end of the film. Shuttles last shots are pure nihilistic hopelessness - a complete heartbreaking, disturbing downer that darkly shades and put a pall over the entire story that came before. You will know what I'm talking about if you see it.
(some spoilers here)
My wife and I were into this film though the entire thing following its twists and turns rooting for the good guys and cheering when the bad guys got theirs. Then "The End" hit and the wife turned to me and looked none to happy - "At least they could have let one of them get away!" she says. A day latter she told me that she could not sleep or get the the film out her head and that if I ever brought a film home like that I would have to watch it alone. Everything was fine, we were having a good time...until "The End." My mood was not so hot either. A really good thriller is usually fun to talk about afterwords - We didn't discuss Shuttle at all.
My conclusion is, Anderson, with Shuttle as a first film has proved himself as a writer and director. He can get very very good performances from relatively new actors, he can tell a story well, and make it move forward, he knows how to create suspense, atmosphere and action, he is able to make a very difficult and tight situations work (filming inside a small bus in the dark) and he achieved an A-film look and feel on a B-film budget.
Shuttle might have been in minor classic territory had Anderson tweaked the ending just ever so slightly. Just to give the audience the ability to dig themselves out of a dark hole in their heads. For instance had Anderson ended the film with a cop putting Mel's video tape from the grocery store in a tape player or had he shown a signer translating the tape at the police station or shown the cops picking up Mr Shuttle at the airport. But he didn't do anything like this and I will not recommend the film to most folks because of it.
That said Shuttle is well made and Anderson is very capable and I look forward to his next project.
So if you chose to climb aboard this ride - I have warned you - Shuttle is a good grueling, tense and suspenseful little thriller but due to its uncompromising, nihilistic and hopeless ending - it's not going to be a fun ride and you will most likely hate its destination.
Description of Shuttle
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