If only the makers of Shelter knew of the irony behind their movie. A film titled 'Shelter' shelters its secrets so badly that there is nothing surprising in its thrills or mysteries. It's one of those movies where you have guessed the ending when there's still half an hour left to watch. Which in the case of Shelter would be before it even began.
It begins with an interesting premise. Dr Cara Harding (Julianne Moore) is not a believer in multiple personalities disorder, which she considers to be a sham which murderers seek to be acquitted of the consequences of their actions.
But when her father (Jeffrey DeMunn) introduces her to a patient (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) whose multiple personalities belong to murdered people, she is both baffled and resistant. She starts a quest to discover how the patient is connected to all the murders to see how he has absorbed their personalities. Of course, no one seems to pay too much attention to the fact that when the patient changes personalities, his neck almost snaps, but psychiatrists are busy people..
Unfortunately, from here the movie gets silly. Cults, religion, faith and not having faith, mysterious deaths and whatnot take the stage as all kinds of creepy images flash on the screen relentlessly to give story the extra mile. While some images are scary and well shot, it doesn't make up to the fact that the story has absolutely nothing to say about anything. In fact, I consider it a prime mistake to delve into religious dogma without coming up anything to say about it, since it is perhaps the easiest target to make a point about. Sloppy.
It begins with an interesting premise. Dr Cara Harding (Julianne Moore) is not a believer in multiple personalities disorder, which she considers to be a sham which murderers seek to be acquitted of the consequences of their actions.
But when her father (Jeffrey DeMunn) introduces her to a patient (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) whose multiple personalities belong to murdered people, she is both baffled and resistant. She starts a quest to discover how the patient is connected to all the murders to see how he has absorbed their personalities. Of course, no one seems to pay too much attention to the fact that when the patient changes personalities, his neck almost snaps, but psychiatrists are busy people..
Unfortunately, from here the movie gets silly. Cults, religion, faith and not having faith, mysterious deaths and whatnot take the stage as all kinds of creepy images flash on the screen relentlessly to give story the extra mile. While some images are scary and well shot, it doesn't make up to the fact that the story has absolutely nothing to say about anything. In fact, I consider it a prime mistake to delve into religious dogma without coming up anything to say about it, since it is perhaps the easiest target to make a point about. Sloppy.