Movie Review #2: Fracture
Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) is the wealthy owner of his own aeronautical company. He’s a genius, and not just for having an attractive, younger wife. Except not all is perfect. His wife is banging some other guy twice a week. And Ted knows. So he does what any logical, red-blooded man would do – he shoots her in the face and ends up getting arrested.
Willie Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is a character straight out of a Grisham novel, right down to the name. He’s from a poor background and is in huge debt from putting himself through law school. But he’s smart and he’s driven. He’s racked up a 97% conviction rate as a low-paid assistant DA. And he’s got one foot out the door as he’s poised to move on to a high-paying corporate law firm.
The Crawford case lands on Beachum’s desk. He doesn’t want to take on any new cases in his last days in the DA’s office, but this seems like a slam dunk – they’ve got the weapon, they’ve got a signed and verbal confession and Crawford is defending himself. But not all is as it seems. Does Crawford have something up his sleeve? Does he get away with attempted murder? (He’s a bad shot for a genius – he only put his wife in a coma.) Will Beachum blow his chance at his dream job? You need to see Fracture yourself if you want these questions answered.
I had a pretty good idea what to expect from Fracture – the trailer gives away the cat & mouse game that ensues between Hopkins and Gosling. And after reading the plot outlines from this site and IMDB, they seem to give away what I think is a major plot point. But despite this, I still found myself into Fracture. It had me guessing right until the end on how Crawford might get off. Fracture also has a surprising number of laughs, the loudest when Hopkins starts talking about his dick. Hopkins is channeling his inner-Hannibal, although not quite as creepy. Gosling – ehhh, I’m really indifferent on him. I don’t get the ‘It’ status he’s been anointed, especially for someone who reminded me of Scott Caan in this movie (and that’s not a compliment).
Fracture seems like the perfect movie for those who enjoy a brainy thriller, who are not biding their theatre time for Spider-Man 3 (my sister comes to mind here). For those of us in the other category, it’s a decent way to kill 2 hours, and is definitely a movie to look for on video when it debuts sometime in the fall. (7 out of 10)
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