Review of Fracture (2007) by Josh M — 27 Apr 2014

Directed by Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear (1996), Fallen (1998) and Frequency (2000)), this twisty thriller written by Daniel Pyne (Pacific Heights (1990) and Any Given Sunday (1999), had done the rounds of Hollywood for nearly a decade in script form, and they only had £10 million to play with when it did get made.

But, it manages to be a surprising and exciting thriller where nothing is what it seems. When wealthy engineer Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) discovers his wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair, he shoots her, leaving her unconcious, and Ted confesses to shooting her.

To deputy district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), it seems like an open and shut case, but it isn't that simple. Ted acts as his own attorney, and reveals that his arresting officer Robert Nunally (Billy Burke) was having an affair with Jennifer, and because the gun Crawford had seemingly had never been fired, the case is thrown out, and Crawford is let free, even though he told the truth, but Beachum isn't finished yet.

This is the sort of film that Hitchcock would have killed for back in the day, but it's a film which requires a lot of attention, as it pulls the rug out from under you more than once. It is a very deceptive film, and it plays with our head, and that's a good thing, as there's not a lot of films that dare to do that these days.