Fracture 2007: DVD Review
A- List Actors Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling Star in a C- Film
Ted Crawford (Sir Anthony Hopkins ) and Willie Beachum (Ryan Gosling) try to match wits in a legal thriller that just misses the mark.
Convoluted Concept
What if a rich, aloof, crazy guy caught his wife cheating and then masterminded a way to kill her without being caught? Sound familiar? It is perhaps the premise of a dozen movies that have crashed and burned into virtual Blockbuster limbo. Jagged Edge got it right in 1988 but Gregory Hoblit’s Fracture is a convoluted mess. The feature was released in April 2007 to mixed reviews, and is now available on DVD. What makes the DVD version more palatable are the deleted scenes, the majority of which could have made the theatrically released version much better indeed. Daniel Payne’s script (The Sum of All Fears and The Manchurian Candidate) begins strong, but loses its identity and falls prey to the predictable good versus bad guy scenario. Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling are both A-list actors but just seem to be going through the motions in a film without any clear direction or realistic character development.
Premeditated
Sir Anthony Hopkins (as Ted Crawford) plays a brilliant engineer consumed with work. Hopkins imbues Crawford with his signature cool, detached style, which always leaves us deliciously afraid of what’s lurking underneath. However, even Mr. Hopkins cannot revive a bland script. Strategically, Crawford follows his wife (Embeth Davidtz) to a ritzy hotel and observes her in the arms of another man. Crawford brutally shoots his wife later that evening and then calmly calls the police as if he were ordering take-out. When the cops arrive the sergeant in charge is none other than Jennifer Crawford’s lover.
Ambition
Enter Ryan Gosling ( as Willie Beachum), a young, ambitious prosecutor in the DA’s office who has finagled a coveted spot at Wooten, Sims and Crowley. With such a new high profile position and an attractive boss, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike), Willie has to clear the docket at his old job and prosecute one more defendant: devious Ted Crawford. David Strathairn is Willie’s former boss, D.A Joe Lubruto and is completely miscast. Imagine Strathairn as Ted Crawford. The tension and drama in this film would have really been high stakes. Instead the relationship between Crawford and Willie is more “fatherly” than adversarial. When Crawford decides to be his own counsel, Willie mistakenly thinks the case will be open and shut. Crawford then realizes Willie’s one weakness: his predilection for winning.
Cat and Mouse Games
Crawford is cunning and manages a get out of jail free card on a technicality. This affront to Willie’s ego and his sympathy for Crawford’s comatose wife forces him to realize Crawford is playing him and of course, he then gathers the gusto to take him on. By then, Willie's new cushy corporate job at Wooten Sims is in jeopardy, along with his insipid, pointless romance with Gardner. Willie has no attempted murder weapon, and therefore no case. He sets off to prove what the audience is painfully aware of: Crawford shot his wife. Wow. We already knew that.
The only redeeming qualities of the DVD are the special features that include the deleted scenes and an InterActual Player that has great sound and resolution. Other than that, the film is only worth renting-maybe.
