FRACTURE by Gregory Hoblit
Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) is filthy rich, highly intelligent, a perfectionist, and he shoots his young attractive wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) in the head because she has an affair with police officer Rob Nunally (Billy Burke). Jennifer survives but is in a coma, and it’s the very police officer Rob Nunally who arrests Ted.
Assistant D.A. Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is young, smart, presumptuous and has just been recruited by a law firm where he wants to make big money – and bed his new boss Nikki Gardner (Rosamunde Pike). Before he leaves, he wants just one more conviction on his records, and it seems to be an easy case. Ted Crawford has confessed the attempted murder and he was found and arrested on the crime scene. He even waives his right for a defense lawyer and defends himself in trial. What can go wrong?
A lot, as Beachum quickly learns. He doesn’t prepare the case properly because he’s already busy decorating his new office and flirting with Nikki, and when he realizes he underestimated Ted Crawford it’s too late. Willy doesn’t just lose his case, he loses it with a bang – it’s total humiliation for him and the department.
Crawford is a free man, and his comatose wife is at his mercy. And Willy Beachum has to make a decision. He could just move on and take his job in the law firm; or he can try to save Jennifer (and his pride) and find the missing murder weapon and enough evidence for another trial.
*** Spoiler Alert ***
Anthony Hopkins as an highly intelligent murderer who plays cat and mouse with the police – does that sound familiar? Yes, there’s something of his iconic Dr. Hannibal Lecter from The Silence Of The Lambs in Ted Crawford (!). But Ryan Gosling is not of the same calibre as Jodie Foster, and the script ain’t bad but it does have it’s flaws. You will probably spot the “surprising” solution how the weapon could disappear and where it is an hour before Ryan Gosling’s Willy, the ending’s probability is heavily disputed (the majority’s opinion seems to be the second trial would never happen because of “double jeopardy” despite what Willy claims in the movie), and the romance between Willy and Nikki is as unconvincing as it is superficial.
So it’s up to Hopkins and Gosling and their battle of wits and will to entertain the audience for 112 minutes, and they are succeeding: Fracture may be predictable, but it’s never boring.
All in all, a slightly above average thriller with a touch of Hannibal Lecter and TV detective Lieutenant Columbo 
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Fracture movie trailer
