Review of Fracture (2007) by Matthew J — 17 Jul 2011

Nicely done, stylish puzzler is what I like to call it..Fracture is a cat-and-mouse thriller that keeps you entertained enough to prevent the gaping plot holes and character inconsistencies from ruining your enjoyment too much until after the final credits have rolled. It's a very slick and glossy film, but, for all its modern sensibilities, could quite easily have been made half-a-century ago.

Anthony Hopkins, in effortlessly good Lecter-lite mode, plays Ted Crawford, a highly intelligent aeronautical engineer and cuckolded husband, who concocts a rather unlikely plot to kill his errant wife (Embeth Davidtz) and taking all the credit for the deed without actually being prosecuted. The woman Mrs Ted is playing away with just happens to be Nunnally, a police hostage negotiator (Billy Burke), making it rather easy for Crawford to manipulate events so that Nunnally is called to the scene of the crime when an apparent hostage situation develops. You can guess where this strand of the story is going from here, but the mental jousting that unfolds between Crawford and arrogant hotshot prosecution lawyer, Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling â" somehow managing to overcome being badly miscast; he looks more like a lead character's goofy best mate than an arrogant, calculating lawyer) provides an entertaining diversion from the mechanics of the crime.

As I mentioned, the holes in the plot are many and large. Nunnally has to be one of filmdom's dumbest cops, lacking the insight â" or sense of self-preservation â" to question the likelihood of coming face to face with the husband of the woman with whom he has been carrying on an affair. Surely he would have wondered about the circumstances and suspected he was being set up. Either way, he decides to keep from Gosling the fact of his affair with the wife â" who survives the shooting but remains in a coma â" which, naturally, comes out during the court case.

Nunnally isn't the only one to suffer an attack of stupiditis, however; Beachum's new boss ignores the universal law of not poking the payroll and jumps into bed with him after two conversations. Luckily, his boss is a she, in the delicious form of Rosamund Pike, so it could have been worse; Never Shit, where you eat, I always say!! Crawford himself, so clever, manipulative and fiercely intelligent throughout the film, overlooks the fact that switching off his wife's life support will clear the way for the incriminating bullet to be dug from her brain - a pretty elementary blunder.

Despite all these inconsistencies, the film is highly entertaining; as is Anthony Hopkins, who seems to be fast becoming the grand old man of movies, even though he seems to be cruising here (his deadpan reference to his private detective â" 'my dick is good⦠my dick has evidence' â" is hilarious). Gosling gives a good account of himself, despite appearing to be miscast, but then he has the kind of appearance that would seem to make it difficult to cast him in any leading role. Rosamund Pike was decent, a bit dry though. I really liked Embeth Davidtz and it's such a shame that she didn't get a lot of screen time although this was expected. David Strathairn was decent although a bit wasted with an undeveloped character. Billy Burke was ok, if a bit underwhelming and Jack of all trades, Cliff Curtis was good as usual.

Overall, Fracture features a strong cast stuck in average material and even though my review sounds like I didn't care for it. I really did despite the material and is still entertaining throughout. Plus if your a fan of Sir Anthony Hopkins, this is a film you wouldn't wanna miss.

Watched on July 17th, 2011.