FRACTURE
By
Shannon Onstot
Community Relations Manager
KUNV 91.5 FM
University of Nevada Las Vegas
email:
smonstot@yahoo.com
Anthony Hopkins is back doing what he does best: creeping us out while
remaining funny and likeable. Fracture is a smart, fast paced crime thriller
that properly showcases the talents of both Hopkins and his co-star Ryan
Gosling.
Sir Anthony plays Ted Crawford, an engineering genius and eccentric
millionaire with a beautiful younger wife (Embeth Davidtz). Ted follows his
wife to a hotel one day, and finds that she is cheating on him with
Detective Rob Nunnaly. The two are obviously in love, but they keep their
relationship mysterious. They call each other Mr. and Mrs. Smith, and
neither knows where the other lives. When Ted sees them together one
afternoon, he snaps, but in true Hopkins style he keeps his cool and plans
his revenge.
When Jennifer, his wife, comes home to
find Ted back from work early, she realizes he’s found out about her affair,
and is pleasantly surprised to find that he doesn’t seem to be that upset.
Then he kisses her, looks her straight in the eye, tells her very sincerely
that he loves her, and then he shoots her in the face. Only Hopkins can be
so completely sincere one second, then seamlessly transition to cold-blooded
killer the next. Of course, Detective Nunnaly is called to the scene, not
realizing that it is his lover who has just been shot. He and Hopkins have a
brilliant stand-off, then he is taken into custody. Nunnaly insists that he
gets to work on the case, but doesn’t tell anyone why he is so invested in
Hopkins’ conviction.
Ryan Gosling plays Willy Beachum, a
cocky young lawyer who is leaving his job as public defender to become a
junior partner at Wooten Simms, a firm that will give him a plush office
decorated to his liking and an enormously better paycheck. Before he leaves,
he takes one more case – one that will be wrapped up quickly and easily. For
evidence, has a signed confession, a murder weapon and the suspect caught at
the scene. Well, Willy’s cut and dry case becomes a little more complicated
when Ted Crawford pleads innocent and decides to waive legal counsel to
represent himself. He plays with the court as a whole, and even messes with
the judge. He seems like a man with nothing to lose, but with an insatiable
need to win, despite his situation.
What follows is a witty cat and mouse game between Gosling and Hopkins.
Gosling’s character is trying desperately to escape with his reputation and
cushy job intact, while Hopkins’ character takes his time playing with him
and searching for tiny mistakes that the legal system has made. The writing
is very good, and Gosling and Hopkins have very good chemistry despite how
different the two are. As it is in any Hopkins thriller, it’s hard to know
who to root for. On one hand, Gosling is too cocky and hotheaded to be a
protagonist, but on the other, Hopkins is much to charming and funny to be a
completely heartless villain.
The strong point of the film is of
course its characters, but writers also do a good job of toeing the line of
being cliché, but then taking it back a step to surprise us with another
twist. Nothing was too shocking though. I felt like directors and writers
were holding back a little bit, and could have taken it to the next level
with such a great cast. For example, the audience isn’t exactly left in the
dark the entire time, but there are a few little twists and turns that keep
everyone guessing, but not enough tot rulky make the movie a mystery. All in
all, the film was a fun exploration of old and wise versus young and cocky
with a satisfying (if not a little predictable) resolution.
