Fracture DVD Review

"Fracture" reviews

DVD

Fracture

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2007-08-10 14:50:11

Provider

DVD Review

Primal Fear director Gregory Hoblit casts Ryan Gosling as attorney Willy Beachum who finds a seemingly open and shut case is much more complicated.

He's about to make the leap into the lucrative world of corporate law when he's handed one last case, investigating the apparently open-and-shut case against Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), a manipulative and controlling engineer who approached his personal life with the same meticulous attention as his work. When he discovers his much younger and beautiful wife (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair he spends weeks plotting the perfect murder. The investigating officer, however, Detective Rob Nunally (Billy Burke), immediately spots the 'dead' woman is still alive and is also his lover, whose real identity he'd never known.

The film spends just enough time in the courtroom to build the tension without getting bogged down in legalities, introducing an only partially convincing love interest/rival (Rosamund Pike) for Gosling.

With the guilty party revealed to us right from the off, Hoblit has to rely on other factors for the suspense but, as fans of Columbo know, this is not a bad thing and leads to much more creativity along the way, while crucial plot points are introduced late in the day. Hopkins and Gosling's verbal sparring provide the well-written, engaging highlights.

Includes deleted and alternative scenes, including different endings.