Fracture

Fracture bears all the signs of a conventional thriller, but fortunately it also features top notch performances by the Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling and some sharp dialogue that carries the movie through its rough spots. The general premise centers on Hopkins as Ted Crawford, a mad genius sociopath who murders his adulterous wife and then proceeds to plan what seems to be the perfect cover up. He gives a signed confession and turns over his gun, but to the dismay of the police, and particularly up and coming prosecutor William Beachum (Gosling) the provided evidence can all be easily dismissed in trial.

Gosling’s Beachum is an ambitious and atypically moral attorney vying for a major corporate job that could be at stake if he loses this case. He accepts it based on the fact that it seems like it will be easily won (Crawford has confessed and everything), but eventually he learns the details of the case are far more complicated than anyone expected. The bulk of the movie’s enjoyable moments come from the competitive banter between Beachum and the manipulative Crawford, played by Hopkins in a comedic, winking way that somehow only amplifies his devilishness. Gosling matches the barbed bravado of Hopkins as they throw down line after line, joke after joke, letting the audience keep score of who’s ahead and how much of a lead they have on the other. Both actors make their conventional character pop with charisma – something even better than realism when dealing with a film played so by the book. If they had been self-serious we would be bored, but they seem to know they’re playing with a certain genre, and in turn, aspire to simply make the genre burst with as much entertainment as possible.

The ending to the movie is sudden and almost everything beyond the initial trial seems like a trailing epilogue. There are several subplots that go nowhere, a number of characters who get no resolution or simply serve no real purpose. The construction of the movie is weak overall, but when it enters into its wonderful dialogue rhythms between Hopkins and Gosling, or simply between any of its more formed characters, we get a glimpse of intellect oft reserved only for art house cinema. It does right by its premise, offering a completely genre loyal narrative, but also has the bemusement of a lighter film. Smarter, funnier, and altogether better than most of its genre compatriots, I’m actually very pleased with this one despite its bouts with logic, structure, and general filmmaking technique.

Grade: B+