The first 3/4 or so of Fracture are amazing. The acting is dead-on, the writing is solid, and the plot is done just well enough that it's incredibly entertaining without being either trite or pretentious. The story is simple enough: Ted Crawford (Hopkins) -- ostensibly an aerospace engineer who runs a successful company -- catches his wife having an affair and shoots (but doesn't kill) her. Being incredibly meticulous, he is able to plan every detail of the attempted murder to assure himself of an acquittal. Willy Beachum, Assistant DA handling the case (Gosling) is a hotshot who's on his way out the door to bigger and better things and, at first, neglects to prepare well for the case. The middle half of the movie is essentially the legal struggle between Beachum and Crawford. Ultimately, the overconfident Beachum is no match for the cunning Crawford. Toward the end of the trial, there is a scene in which Beachum must decide whether or not to plant evidence in order to obtain a conviction. The tension is palpable and the scene comes off as one of the best and most dramatic in the movie. In the end, Crawford is acquitted and, as he leaves the courtroom, his wife's grief-stricken lover shoots himself. This would have been an almost perfect ending to the movie, and would have guaranteed it at least an 8 or 9 rating from me. Up to this point, it was a solid film that was realistic, and just unconventional enough to stand out.
But apparently that wasn't enough for the folks behind the movie. Unable to cope with his failure, Beachum takes a personal interest in Crawford's comatose wife. What follows is a ridiculous and clichéd attempt by Beachum to obtain a court order preventing Crawford from pulling his wife's life support. This portion of the film is unrealistic and filled with false drama. The story does not sell Beachum's sudden dramatic change of character well, and it gives little reason to care about what happens to the wife (her doctor all but says that she's almost gone anyway). Beachum fails to stop Crawford from pulling the plug (legally), but then in an even less believable sequence, realizes where the crucial piece of evidence was, and then extracts a confession from Crawford, who believes he's protected by prohibitions on double jeopardy. Using a seemingly flimsy argument, Beachum takes Crawford back to court. The movie ends, fortunately, with the new trial beginning, rather than a conviction, which, in my opinion, would have reduced its score even more.
The acting in Fracture is fantastic. Though Gosling gets most of the screen time, Hopkins (as usual) steals the show. Strange side note: Hopkins seems to change accents throughout the movie. The writing and the plot are outstanding for the first hour to hour and a half. And the music is excellent (especially when Crawford returns home after his acquittal). What would have been a great movie is no more than mediocre or slightly above average simply because it tried to fix what wasn't broke.
My Recommendation: See the movie, but leave shortly after the trial ends.
But apparently that wasn't enough for the folks behind the movie. Unable to cope with his failure, Beachum takes a personal interest in Crawford's comatose wife. What follows is a ridiculous and clichéd attempt by Beachum to obtain a court order preventing Crawford from pulling his wife's life support. This portion of the film is unrealistic and filled with false drama. The story does not sell Beachum's sudden dramatic change of character well, and it gives little reason to care about what happens to the wife (her doctor all but says that she's almost gone anyway). Beachum fails to stop Crawford from pulling the plug (legally), but then in an even less believable sequence, realizes where the crucial piece of evidence was, and then extracts a confession from Crawford, who believes he's protected by prohibitions on double jeopardy. Using a seemingly flimsy argument, Beachum takes Crawford back to court. The movie ends, fortunately, with the new trial beginning, rather than a conviction, which, in my opinion, would have reduced its score even more.
The acting in Fracture is fantastic. Though Gosling gets most of the screen time, Hopkins (as usual) steals the show. Strange side note: Hopkins seems to change accents throughout the movie. The writing and the plot are outstanding for the first hour to hour and a half. And the music is excellent (especially when Crawford returns home after his acquittal). What would have been a great movie is no more than mediocre or slightly above average simply because it tried to fix what wasn't broke.
My Recommendation: See the movie, but leave shortly after the trial ends.