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Movie Review

'Fracture' breaks with the obvious

This intelligent courtroom drama pits a sly criminal against a slapdash prosecutor, while it plays with audience expectations.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published April 19, 2007

It's tempting to object to the casting of Anthony Hopkins as the bad guy in the stylish new courtroom drama Fracture.

After all, when you need someone to play a sophisticated, soft-spoken and conscienceless murderer, a cunning killer who delights in playing intellectual games with cops and prosecutors, Sir Anthony is far too obvious a choice.

But it's so much fun to watch Hopkins playing around the edges of his Hannibal Lecter character that such objections are happily abandoned.

Hopkins is clearly enjoying himself, and that helps give this intriguing movie one of its most enjoyable twists: From the start almost until the finish, our sympathies remain with the remorseless criminal who uses legal maneuvering to get away with murder. Only gradually, and only toward the end, do we start rooting for the good guys.

Just a couple of minutes into the film, we see Hopkins shoot his wife, who has been cheating on him. Her paramour is an L.A. cop who comes to investigate the murder, unaware that the victim is his lover. Hopkins casually, almost happily, confesses to the crime. You half expect him to say that he ate his wife's liver with fava beans and a nice chianti.

Then we meet Ryan Gosling as a semi-slacker prosecutor who likes to take easy cases to maintain his high conviction percentage. Because of Hopkins' confession, and because Hopkins plans to represent himself in court, this one looks like a slam-dunk.

It turns out that Hopkins has a legal trick or two up his sleeve, and Gosling is in for the most difficult case of his prosecutorial life.

Hopkins and Gosling (in his first role since his Oscar-nominated performance in Half Nelson) are terrific together. Gosling's performance is every bit as impressive as his co-star's, because he has to undergo a gradual awakening as the film progresses, and his character becomes much more attractive in the process. We love watching him be outwitted in the early scenes, but by the film's end, we're hoping he gets his man.

There are several logical lapses throughout the proceedings, but the cleverness of the script, the atmospheric direction by Gregory Hoblit (Primal Fear) and gorgeous Los Angeles scenes more than compensate.

The only flaw that does real damage is a silly and pointless subplot about a corporate lawyer (Rosamund Pike) with whom Gosling is having an affair. It does nothing but slow the pace of a film that's not exactly action-packed to begin with.

Even so, Fracture is intelligent, and the combination of the old pro Hopkins and the young hotshot Gosling is a wonderful thing to behold.

Marty Clear can be reached at mclear@tampabay.rr.com.

Review

Fracture

Grade: B+

Director: Gregory Hoblit.

Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Rosamund Pike, Bill Burke.

Screenplay: Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers

Rating: R; language and some violent content

Running time: 115 min.

[Last modified April 18, 2007, 11:19:05]