(andPOP) - It's been done. The cat-and-mouse courtroom thriller. The classic whodunit legal drama that pits the crazy killer against the moral driven protagonist. There’s no doubt that it’s been done. But, while Fracture’s premise may be undeniably predictable, the plot is cunning and provocative. In moments where the film falters, Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling plunge into this meticulously crafted drama and pull out stunning performances that allow an unlikely on-screen chemistry to flourish.
Hopkins plays Ted Crawford, a sly evil genius with a sinister smirk and a chilling soft-spoken confidence. Crawford has been keeping tabs on his unfaithful wife (Embeth Davidtz) and decides to shoot her in the head in the middle of their mini-mansion in Los Angeles. Nice. But there’s a method to the aeronautics engineer’s madness. And while the sheer enigmatic brilliance of the calculated crime is left to be uncovered by hot-shot prosecutor Willy Beachum (Gosling), the suspenseful twists and turns of the movie are left to mystify anticipated audiences.
Gosling and Hopkins play into each other perfectly. Both characters- wrapped in a stylishly framed battle of wits— thrive in an atmosphere where each can show off their academy award nominated acting chops.
Hopkins’ Crawford channels his infamous Hannibal-Lecter- mannerisms and has the eerie ability to get under Beachum’s skin. Beachum is a lower class go-getter with a fetish for winning, but his road to a cushy private sector job complete with Italian leather couches and courtside Lakers seats is derailed by incessant moral dilemmas caused by Crawford’s schemes.
Kudos goes to director Gregory Hoblit for creating a stylish and seductive backdrop for the beautifully complicated tango unfolding on screen between Hopkins and Gosling. While the acting is the film’s strongest quality, to focus solely on the performances of two seasoned actors would be to do an injustice to the movie. It’s smart and surprisingly funny at times- in a dry, satirical, ironic way- but still funny. It’s full of thought-provoking, conversation-stimulating questions that poke, jab, and nudge at our deepest curiosities and leave you bending over backwards trying to solve the case before Willy Beachum does.
At times when the scenes drag or when one of the prodding questions that present itself is why is Beachum is having Thanksgiving dinner with his future boss’s (Rosamund Pike) family when their inexplicable romance just materialized a few scenes back, Gosling breathes life into the picture with his confident Southern drawl and his unexpected candor.
Fracture may have just hid its faults as well as Crawford hides the illusive murder weapon and it may play its audience as well as Gosling and Hopkins play their clever characters, but in its manipulation it provides originality and imagination that is definitely worth seeing.
