Gregory Hoblit's
Fracture is being advertised as a thriller, but it is actually a quiet and subtle psychological battle between two very different men who spend the entire course of the film looking for each other's weaknesses. One's a young criminal prosecutor who is so good at finding flaws in courtroom testimonies, he is rapidly building his career. The other is a highly intelligent man who plays the role of the innocent while secretly dissecting and destroying his enemies. When these two highly overconfident and egotistical personalities battle one another, it makes for some great drama. By the time
Fracture is over, we haven't learned as much about these two men as we probably would have liked, but we are entertained nonetheless.
Wealthy airplane engineer Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) finds himself in the media eye when he attempts to murder his wife after he finds out she has been unfaithful and carrying on an affair. The seemingly open and shut case comes across the desk of hotshot deputy district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) who is on the fast track to a promotion at another prestigious company. With the new job certain to be confirmed any day, Willy's mind is not exactly on the case, which proves to be a huge mistake on his half, since Ted is much smarter than he initially appears. Although he has made a confession to the act of violence, Ted uses some technicalities to his advantage to possibly get him acquitted. Willy's job future is in jeopardy, and he knows that Ted planned all of this ahead of time. Realizing what he's up against, Willy becomes obsessed with discovering why this supposedly fool-proof evidence has fallen through the cracks, and where the real evidence can be found. As for Ted, he haunts and taunts his opponent from captivity, setting more mind games and deception for Willy to work his way through.
I will try my best to be vague about the plot from this point on, as much of the fun of
Fracture is how carefully it has been constructed. Unlike last week's silly
Perfect Stranger, this movie's plot is laid down in such a way so that every surprise and revelation makes sense. While the material it covers is not exactly anything new, it still has enough twists and turns that will likely have audience members thinking it through long after the credits have finished rolling. However, this is not the kind of movie that wastes its time trying to throw you off course every chance it gets. The plot and the characters are fairly straightforward, it is the relationship between the two main antagonists and how they try to throw each other off that keeps our attention. Both are cocky in their own way with their own self-inflated sense of invincibility. Ted barely pays attention to what's going on in the courtroom half the time, only speaking up when the moment is exactly right to bring up the technicality that may very well set him free. He has obviously thought things through, and feels he doesn't even need to concern himself with coming up with a proper defense. Willy, on the other hand, has a nearly spotless success rate, and has become so wrapped up in his own success that he can't even realize the mistakes that he's making. More than Ted himself, it is Ted's wife (who survived the murder attempt and is in a coma at a nearby hospital) that haunts Willy most of all. He begins visiting her daily, almost as if he is punishing himself for letting his arrogance get the best of him.
Fracture is indeed driven by these two characters and their personal mental war. In bringing these men to life, Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling are wonderful in their own unique way. Hopkins brings a certain icy subtlety to his performance as Ted. He is quiet, yet obviously dangerous and calculating, and is often devilishly funny as he delivers his many darkly comic one liners. This is not simply a repeat of his Hannibal Lecter performance, as one would suspect. His dialogue and his actions have been well thought out in the screenplay by Daniel Pyne (2004's
The Manchurian Candidate remake) and Glenn Gers, so that the character of Ted can come across as a unique villain who stands out in his own way. As Willy, Ryan Gosling does not have nearly as interesting of a role, but he is still able to match wits with Hopkins' performance in every scene they share together. It is the scenes where the two square off that we not only realize the intelligence of the movie itself, but also get to admire the performances the most. There is definite intensity, most memorably during their final moments together near the end of the film. When Gosling is working alone, he's not bad, but he never quite comes across as anyone we can truly get behind. And that brings me to my one big problem with the film.
For everything it does right, the movie makes a great misstep in preventing us from truly getting to know the characters and care about them outside of the situation at hand. We learn very little about Ted's life before he shot his wife. Was he always this cold and calculating? Did his wife start to see signs of this, and she started drifting away from him looking for comfort in other men? When Ted is talking about the night he tried to kill his wife, he says that he snapped, but we never truly get to learn the meaning behind those words. Willy comes across as even more of a mystery, as we seldom if ever get to see him outside of the office, or interact with anyone aside from an underdeveloped fling with a woman at his new job (Rosamund Pike) that, while not exactly pointless to the movie itself, still seems to come across almost as an afterthought. When the two main characters are matching wits, either in the courtroom or in private, the movie is dramatic and alive. Take them apart, and the film still manages to entertain, but definitely falters. We can see greatness in just about every scene, and perhaps if the script had gone through just one more rewrite, it would have been perfect.
What we end up with is a very good dramatic thriller that still manages to entertain despite its obvious shortcomings.
Fracture has obviously been developed with care, and it shows in the writing and the performances. Perhaps its a credit to the film that I wanted to know more about the characters. They both seemed interesting, and I was left wanting to dig even deeper into them. Still, what we have here is something that should please just about anyone looking for a compelling look at two equally compelling rivals. Could it have been better? Absolutely. But I'm not complaining too much about what I've been given.
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Gregory Hoblit's Fracture is being advertised as a thriller, but it is actually a quiet and subtle psychological battle between two very different men who spend the entire course of the film looking for each other's weaknesses. One's a young criminal prosecutor who is so good at finding flaws in courtroom testimonies, he is rapidly building his career. The other is a highly intelligent man who plays the role of the innocent while secretly dissecting and destroying his enemies. When these two highly overconfident and egotistical personalities battle one another, it makes for some great drama. By the time Fracture is over, we haven't learned as much about these two men as we probably would have liked, but we are entertained nonetheless.
Wealthy airplane engineer Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) finds himself in the media eye when he attempts to murder his wife after he finds out she has been unfaithful and carrying on an affair. The seemingly open and shut case comes across the desk of hotshot deputy district attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) who is on the fast track to a promotion at another prestigious company. With the new job certain to be confirmed any day, Willy's mind is not exactly on the case, which proves to be a huge mistake on his half, since Ted is much smarter than he initially appears. Although he has made a confession to the act of violence, Ted uses some technicalities to his advantage to possibly get him acquitted. Willy's job future is in jeopardy, and he knows that Ted planned all of this ahead of time. Realizing what he's up against, Willy becomes obsessed with discovering why this supposedly fool-proof evidence has fallen through the cracks, and where the real evidence can be found. As for Ted, he haunts and taunts his opponent from captivity, setting more mind games and deception for Willy to work his way through.
I will try my best to be vague about the plot from this point on, as much of the fun of Fracture is how carefully it has been constructed. Unlike last week's silly Perfect Stranger, this movie's plot is laid down in such a way so that every surprise and revelation makes sense. While the material it covers is not exactly anything new, it still has enough twists and turns that will likely have audience members thinking it through long after the credits have finished rolling. However, this is not the kind of movie that wastes its time trying to throw you off course every chance it gets. The plot and the characters are fairly straightforward, it is the relationship between the two main antagonists and how they try to throw each other off that keeps our attention. Both are cocky in their own way with their own self-inflated sense of invincibility. Ted barely pays attention to what's going on in the courtroom half the time, only speaking up when the moment is exactly right to bring up the technicality that may very well set him free. He has obviously thought things through, and feels he doesn't even need to concern himself with coming up with a proper defense. Willy, on the other hand, has a nearly spotless success rate, and has become so wrapped up in his own success that he can't even realize the mistakes that he's making. More than Ted himself, it is Ted's wife (who survived the murder attempt and is in a coma at a nearby hospital) that haunts Willy most of all. He begins visiting her daily, almost as if he is punishing himself for letting his arrogance get the best of him.
Fracture is indeed driven by these two characters and their personal mental war. In bringing these men to life, Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling are wonderful in their own unique way. Hopkins brings a certain icy subtlety to his performance as Ted. He is quiet, yet obviously dangerous and calculating, and is often devilishly funny as he delivers his many darkly comic one liners. This is not simply a repeat of his Hannibal Lecter performance, as one would suspect. His dialogue and his actions have been well thought out in the screenplay by Daniel Pyne (2004's The Manchurian Candidate remake) and Glenn Gers, so that the character of Ted can come across as a unique villain who stands out in his own way. As Willy, Ryan Gosling does not have nearly as interesting of a role, but he is still able to match wits with Hopkins' performance in every scene they share together. It is the scenes where the two square off that we not only realize the intelligence of the movie itself, but also get to admire the performances the most. There is definite intensity, most memorably during their final moments together near the end of the film. When Gosling is working alone, he's not bad, but he never quite comes across as anyone we can truly get behind. And that brings me to my one big problem with the film.
For everything it does right, the movie makes a great misstep in preventing us from truly getting to know the characters and care about them outside of the situation at hand. We learn very little about Ted's life before he shot his wife. Was he always this cold and calculating? Did his wife start to see signs of this, and she started drifting away from him looking for comfort in other men? When Ted is talking about the night he tried to kill his wife, he says that he snapped, but we never truly get to learn the meaning behind those words. Willy comes across as even more of a mystery, as we seldom if ever get to see him outside of the office, or interact with anyone aside from an underdeveloped fling with a woman at his new job (Rosamund Pike) that, while not exactly pointless to the movie itself, still seems to come across almost as an afterthought. When the two main characters are matching wits, either in the courtroom or in private, the movie is dramatic and alive. Take them apart, and the film still manages to entertain, but definitely falters. We can see greatness in just about every scene, and perhaps if the script had gone through just one more rewrite, it would have been perfect.
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