You won't be disappointed!

Please don't spend money on this.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

I watched this last night hoping for a strong suspense/thriller. Yes, the suspense is kind of there, but the plot line has so many glaring holes it becomes annoying and frustrating. The characterizations are OK, Gerard Butler and Maria Bello do a pretty good job but Pierce Brosnan shows he is out of his depth and paints a one dimensional and one expression (less) character...seems he is perhaps only good at action films where not much talent is needed. Pity.What can I say about the plot? Well, let's just say (without spoiling it) that there are so many opportunities for the couple who have been held ransom to do something about it. Several times they (in particular G Butller's character) could have notified police, his work colleagues or his mistress for help, but no, instead he listens to the woeful, nonsensical rants of his wife to do nothing except what the antagonist (Brosnan) tells them to do. Very annoying and simply with no logic this is the greatest downfall of the plot. Suspense? Yes, if you disregard the husband's and wife's illogicality !! The twist at the end is perhaps one of the best developed and unforeseen I have encountered. Totally unprepared for it. But that's the best I can say about this film. Good atmospheric cinematography and music score.Almost, but not quite "Shattered" !

This was a pretty good suspense thriller, getting better as the story moved along and containing a hell of a twist at the end. Didn't see that coming.Butler is (nice to look at) and does a decent job as a happy family man placed in a desperate situation, when a calculating sociopath (played brilliantly by Pierce Brosnan) kidnaps his young daughter and toys with his wife. At first the kidnappers demands seem standard (money) but they grow increasingly outlandish as the movie progresses until it becomes obvious that he simply enjoys the power that comes along with systematically dismantling their idyllic lives. The viewer is left wondering why until the very end.Enjoyed Brosnan in this role as the bad guy and loved that he kept his Irish accent. Butler has a couple of very emotional scenes that impressed me too. Filmed in Vancouver as Chicago. 9/2/14

A weak thriller by director Mike Barker, "Butterfly on a Wheel" stars Gerard Butler as Neil Randall, a father whose daughter is kidnapped by a mysterious man (Pierce Brosnan). The film's big twist – massive spoilers ahead – is that Neil's own wife (Maria Bello) has concocted this elaborate scheme to punish Neil for his infidelities."Butterfly's" title is an allusion to an Alexander Pope poem, in which the phrase "who breaks a butterfly upon a (torture) wheel" referred to all those who put inordinate effort into achieving something minor or unimportant. The implication is that Neil's wife is disproportionately punishing her husband. As the film takes Neil's point of view, Bello's character becomes an unsympathetic villain.5/10 – Worth no viewings.

BUTTERFLY ON A WHEEL is one of those twisty-turny thrillers that lives for its next revelation. Unfortunately, it's also a fairly predictable piece of film-making, content to act as a weak reimagining of THE GAME for the most part, with a little bit of DIE HARD WITH A VENGEANCE thrown in. In essence, Gerard Butler and Maria Bello are the happily married couple who find themselves at the mercy of a sinister kidnapper, played by Pierce Brosnan.My first thought was that Brosnan can't play a villain, and I was right; he's way too sympathetic to be even slightly intimidating. The other characters aren't much better, either; Bello seems to be repeating her role from A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, to diluted effect, while Butler is too gung-ho and action man-y to convince as the trapped and hounded family guy (he was much more effective as the villain himself in LAW ABIDING CITIZEN).We're left with a film that keeps you watching, although it can hardly be called entertaining. Most of the time, the twists are so well choreographed, and Brosnan's character is so calculating, that you can predict what will happen long before it actually does. This type of film has been done too many times to really create much impact these days, and William Morrissey's script doesn't have the oomph that it needs to truly shock or provoke. Add in indifferent direction and you have a rather bland and forgettable movie; nice to see THE X-FILES' Nicholas Lea in a supporting role, though.