Fracture

On Tuesday, June 5, 2007, I went to see the movie Fracture, featuring Sir Anthony Hopkins, and Ryan Gosling. It also featured Rosamund Pike, who played a boss at an exclusive private law firm.

The story is about Ted Crawford, played by Hopkins, who learns that his wife is having an affair with Rob Nunally, who is a detective, and a hostage negotiator. He arrests Crawford, and obtains a written confession.

Next, we hop to Willy Beachum, a lawyer in a prosecutor office who's wanting to make it into a big company. He is trying to tie up loose ends in his old office before heading to the new one, and he gets a case from his boss. He initially didn't want to take the case, but his boss said that the detectives found the murder weapon, and they also have a signed confession from the defendant, so it's a pretty easy case.

Now, Willy Beachum is an over-confident prosecutor. So, when he got this case, with the gun and the signed statement, he thought he could win the case, and was supremely unprepared for it. However, Crawford completely pulled a fast one on him and completely dismissed his key witness, and as well in a private meeting with the judge, voided the signed confession.

This started the battle of wits between Crawford and Beachum. The rest of the movie is about each person playing mind games with the other. Beachum is trying to find the murder weapon, and Crawford is just being coy. From this point on, the audience keeps wondering whether or not Crawford is going to get off scott free, or if Beachum will find a way to prosecute him for the crime of attempted murder.

Hopkins and Gosling both played wonderful characters. I always know that Hopkins is excellent as an actor, but Gosling is quite the up and rising star... I saw him in Half Nelson, and I was impressed, but this role was better than his performance in Half Nelson!

Does Crawford (Hopkins) get off scott free, or does Beachum prosecute the defendent? Well, only watching the movie will answer that question!