Fracture

Fracture is one of those suspenseful legal dramas that make the audience want to scream out where the gun is, direct the lawyer to the right witnesses and smack the bad guy in the face when he gets away with it. Anthony Hopkins plays Ted Crawford, a meticulous engineer who drives sports cars, lives in a mansion and has a beautiful young wife (Embeth Davitz). Unfortunately for her, Crawford is no dum-dum and her affair with a hot detective is no secret. Before long she’s lying in a pool of her own blood, with her husband standing over her with a smoking gun and ready confession. What follows is a well-thought-out series of events that challenge the reputation—and mind—of hotshot assistant district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling). In his meticulous way, Crawford appears to have taken care of all the details, and evidence loses validity faster than Beachum can get dressed for court. The back-and-forth between Crawford and Beachum is peppered with humor and, for the most part, it keeps us guessing what’s going to come next. Sadly, with a decently suspenseful story and stylish, mood-setting directing—there are some awesome, if not disorienting shots—there are holes in the plot that just seem to get bigger toward the end.