Fracture (2007)

Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Am i the only one who thinks........Average?

A Masterpiece!

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is an Assistant D.A. with a 97% courtroom success rate. He attributes his success to being a hot-shot attorney but it must actually be because he only takes sure-fire cases-nothing else explains his success when viewed against his generally moronic conduct. Beachum, having earned his chops on the public dime is now ditching them for the private sector where he can make some real bucks, however, with a couple of weeks to kill he accepts one last open-and-shut case: the attempted murder by Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) of his cheating wife. Police captured Crawford at the scene of the crime, they got the murder weapon and a signed confession yet, perversely, Crawford decides he will defend himself against the charges in court and Beachum finds himself being out-manoeuvred Will justice be served? Will you care? There are no surprises here.

Reasonably interesting, but flawed, courtroom-drama.Engaging plot, though it is far from watertight. There are several holes, not least in the murderer's grand plan, in the way the Deputy District Attorney eventually unravels it and in how he ultimately puts the evidence together to prosecute him. Plus the ending can be seen a mile off - not the exact details, but the broader nature of it.Anthony Hopkins seems to be going through the motions in his role. It's as if he is trying to recreate Hannibal Lecter, and doing it half-heartedly. His accent is also quite perplexing, as it seems to change with each scene. I think he was supposed to be Irish, but the accent seems to come and go.Ryan Gosling is reasonably solid in his role. Good support from Rosamund Pike and David Strathairn.

There is indeed an engaging air of mystery surrounding "Fracture" that will keep you watching/interested until the very end. Only helping matters is the star-studded cast. The problem that prevents "Fracture" from being a great film, however? It just ends up being too smart for it's own good.For a basic plot summary, "Fracture" sees Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) kill his wife (who had been cheating on him) in a jealous rage. There is no doubt that he did the deed, and what with the signed confession and murder weapon in hand, it looks to be a slam-dunk case. Opposing Crawford in court is Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), a hot-shot young lawyer about to move on to bigger and better things. This final case will be his swan song as a public defender...until it proves to be much more difficult when Beachum finds that Crawford is a bit more savvy than he lets on.The reason I can call "Fracture" a good movie is because an air of mystery exists pretty much throughout. It seems straightforward, but of course one keeps waiting for the other shoe to drop. Hopkins is perfect as the debonair accused murderer, while Gosling also shines in his youthful role. The movie really starts out with a lot of energy and intrigue and seems to be set up for a remarkable conclusion.The problem, however, is that when that other "shoe" does drop, it lands with a resounding "thud". Clearly, "Fracture" was leading up to a climax that it could not possibly deliver, so instead it tries to fool the audience and ends up out-smarting itself.For example (MAJOR SPOILERS):-The notion of the cop's sworn statement being thrown out of court because he was the dead wife's lover is the first clue of what the ending is going to be. I'm not an ultra-realist when it comes to movies, but c'mon here...this is kind of idiocy.-So many minutes of the film are devoted to finding the real murder weapon, yet I was severely let down that it was truly resolved in a scene that the audience could never really see coming. Don't spend so much time on this single plot point and then cop out with what basically amounts to an "off-camera scene" being the answer.-Finally (and this is the big one), Crawford is eventually caught because apparently he doesn't understand a technicality involving the principle of double jeopardy. Really?! The entire movie sets Crawford up to be a genius, and this is his demise? Embarrassing.So, while "Fracture" did do a lot of things right in terms of mystery, pacing, and acting, it is such an intellectual letdown in the end that it only pulls in at "slightly above average". Perhaps more casual viewers, or those who take things a bit more at face-value, won't be bothered by some of the ridiculous developments in the film, but for those who really focus on character development and consistency it is extremely frustrating to have all the characters fall apart towards the end (at least in terms of how they acted for most of the film).

You don't have to be a criminal defense lawyer to conclude that this movie was totally ridiculous. Just look at one item--We're supposed to believe that the rich guy is some kind of special genius. But look what he did. He risked a 30 year prison sentence on his assumption that when the police came to his house after he killed his wife that the only hostage negotiator that might come to his door was the guy who had been screwing his wife. What if Joe Blow showed up instead? This is L.A., likely with up to ten other guys who might have handled negotiations. Did the rich guy skip considering that the cop he wanted might have been working another case? LOL. He would have been unable to switch the guns as this movie showed because Joe Blow might not own a Glock. Does a "genius" take "all in" risks like that? No.There is not much point in going over the many other nonsense things about this movie. I just thought I'd mention the above.