Fracture (2007)

Featured Audience Ratings

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Billy Burke, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, Larry Sullivan, Fiona Shaw, Xander Berkeley Director: Gregory Hoblit Summary: Anthony Hopkins stars in this legal thriller as Ted Crawford, a man who allegedly attempted to murder… More
  Cast: Anthony Hopkins, Ryan Gosling, David Strathairn, Billy Burke, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, Larry Sullivan, Fiona Shaw, Xander Berkeley Director: Gregory Hoblit Summary: Anthony Hopkins stars in this legal thriller as Ted Crawford, a man who allegedly attempted to murder his wife and is now locked in a battle of wits with a young assistant district attorney, Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling). The D.A. is convinced Crawford has blood on his hands, but Crawford is freed on a technicality, sending Beachum on an obsessive mission to prove Crawford's guilt -- even if he has to bend the law to do it. My Thoughts: "This is an intelligent suspense thriller. Hopkins is so good at playing creepy. He's quite clever and devilish in this role. Ryan Gosling was just as great. It takes a good actor to make his presence known when working with a great like Hopkins, and he manages to do just that. Besides the acting, the story is also very strong. Some seen the ending coming, but getting there is a great ride. It's a great film of catch-me-if-you-can, with Gosling trying to solve the "perfect murder". The film pulls you in from the start and never lets go. One of the best suspense/thrillers I have seen."

• Shawn E

  
  Fracture is an interesting crime drama with both intensity and drama. The mystery and the dramatic build up to the end won't amaze, but the performances by Hopkins and Gosling will however be enough to carry the film.

• Clintus M

  
  It's a battle to see who's more brilliant or at least who's made a fatal error in the legal thriller Fracture. Anthony Hopkins plays the accused killer, Ted Crawford, a menacing, sinister character matched against Ryan Gosling's Willy Beachum, the cocky assistant… More
  It's a battle to see who's more brilliant or at least who's made a fatal error in the legal thriller Fracture. Anthony Hopkins plays the accused killer, Ted Crawford, a menacing, sinister character matched against Ryan Gosling's Willy Beachum, the cocky assistant district attorney. It's a typical cat and mouse game with a twist, the moral dilemma of Beachum, justice versus self-interest. He believes he can outwit Crawford then land a plumb private practice position. Crawford proves to be very formidable, however, and this film keeps you on the edge of your seat to see who wins. Will Beachum manufacture evidence against Crawford? What price is he willing to pay? I wasn't positive where it was going, so kudos to the writer and director. The acting is good as expected, but I've seen these same actors do better. It all adds up to a good, taunt drama; nothing too original, but well done.

• Sophie B

  
  I really loved the narrative of this film, it was interesting, mysterious and enticing. Throughout the whole film I didn't guess the twist but when it came, it came good. Brilliant performance from Hopkins as normal but I'm not sold on Gosling.

• Lady D

  
  In a battle of arrogance between prosecuting lawyer and defendant, mind games begin and the frustration builds. Anthony Hopkins plays an intellectual killer (sounds like his role as Hannibal Lector, but a much different character I promise) who has covered his tracks so well, he is… More
  In a battle of arrogance between prosecuting lawyer and defendant, mind games begin and the frustration builds. Anthony Hopkins plays an intellectual killer (sounds like his role as Hannibal Lector, but a much different character I promise) who has covered his tracks so well, he is about to get away with murder. I feel Gosling has reached a higher rung on the Hollywood ladder with this film. This a great psychological thriller.

• Bethany M

  
  Great film! I love Ryan Gosling! What an actor!

• Brad W

  
  Fracture is worthy to be called a thriller, but not a mystery. A mystery film consists of piecing things together, such as Cold Blood or Primal Fear. In this however we are given an intense courtroom film because it mostly consists of lawyers and judges. The plot of Fracture is… More
  Fracture is worthy to be called a thriller, but not a mystery. A mystery film consists of piecing things together, such as Cold Blood or Primal Fear. In this however we are given an intense courtroom film because it mostly consists of lawyers and judges. The plot of Fracture is very intense, thrilling, and interesting. The music in the movie is great too and really intensly composed. Hopkins is tremendous as usual and Gosling proves hes ready for more roles. My main problems was keeping up, it has these stupid sub plots I didnt know what was important or wasn't. Another problem is these people are going insane over a stupid attemptem murder case, and they look like Hopkins was the man behind 9/11 or something. This movie was definently worth a watch.

• Manu G

  
  If you look close enough, you'll find everyone has a weak spot. Saw it again!!! This film keeps surprising me with lil quirks and ideas I never saw before, it's still a great soild movie to see.The film's color cinematography is very good, and includes some unusual… More
  If you look close enough, you'll find everyone has a weak spot. Saw it again!!! This film keeps surprising me with lil quirks and ideas I never saw before, it's still a great soild movie to see.The film's color cinematography is very good, and includes some unusual camera angles. I also liked the use of a wide-angle lens in the courtroom scenes. And sound effects, so often ignored in many films, further add to the realism of the settings. The acting is superb from Ryan and Hopkins and the story is amazing! Theodore "Ted" Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy and talented structural engineer, discovers his wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair with police detective Rob Nunally (Billy Burke). Crawford proceeds to shoot his wife, seriously wounding her and he immediately confesses the crime to Nunally on the scene. However, at his arraignment, Crawford retracts his confession. He then engages in a battle of wits with rising star deputy district attorney William "Willy" Beachum (Ryan Gosling), who considers this an open-and-shut matter and agrees to go to trial. Beachum is busy making preparations for his transition from criminal law to corporate attorney for Wooton & Simms, a well-known firm, and begins a romantic relationship with his future boss, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike). At the trial, Crawford acts as his own attorney, which serves as a key vehicle for the plot of the movie - matching up against a star prosecutor as a supposedly untrained litigant. Crawford reveals that the arresting officer (Nunally) was having an affair with his wife and was also present during his interrogation. His confession is ruled to be inadmissible as evidence, as it was fruit of the poisonous tree. Beachum discovers that Crawford's handgun was not used to shoot his wife, because it had never been fired and did not match the shell casings at the murder scene. Since the house was under surveillance the entire time from the shooting to Crawford's arrest, the police are baffled. While the next hearing is imminent, Beechum is faced with absolutely no evidence against Crawford. Nunally in his intense desire for revenge, offers to plant false evidence through his contact at the evidence room. Beechum, however being a young and as yet an unspoilt lawyer refuses even to consider it. Nunally, still goes on to do the dirty plant. Just before the trial, Beechum plots to trick Crawford with the help of his secretary, but at the last moment decides against. With no new evidence to present to the jury, Beachum is forced to concede the trial and Crawford is acquitted. The disgraced Nunally commits suicide with his own gun outside the courtroom. Beacham's future with the prestigious firm is in tatters. With the case closed, he obsessively continues to search for evidence. He repeatedly visits the comatose Jennifer in the hospital, hoping she will wake up. But at Crawford's request, a restraining order is issued forbidding Beachum to visit the patient. Realizing that Crawford's plan is to dispose off the only eyewitness to the crime, Beachum goes to great lengths to get a court order to keep Jennifer on life support. Nikki refuses to help him and they end their relationship. Beachum arrives too late and Crawford orders the hospital staff to take Jennifer off life support, allowing her to die. A mix-up of cellphones leads Beachum to realize that both Nunally and Crawford used the similar gun. He figures out that before the crime, Crawford switched his gun with Nunally's identical Glock 21 in a hotel room where Jennifer and Nunally secretly met. Crawford shot his wife with Nunally's gun, whereupon the detective arrived on the scene carrying Crawford's gun. While Nunally lingered over Jennifer, trying to revive her, Crawford reloaded Nunally's gun and placed it back where Nunally had left it, while at the same time taking back his original gun. Distracted by the sight of Jennifer's body, Nunally did not notice the guns being switched back. When Crawford appears back in the room brandishing his own gun, Nunally tackles and beats him up before Crawford is arrested, at which point Nunally unwittingly holsters his own gun, the murder weapon, and lets Crawford's unused one to be taken as evidence. Beachum confronts Crawford with his new evidence. Since she died, the bullet lodged in Jennifer's head can now be retrieved and matched with Nunally's gun. Beachum tricks Crawford into confessing, knowing that Crawford thinks he is protected under the double jeopardy clause. However, Beachum reveals that by allowing his wife to die, Crawford can now be prosecuted for murder, having previously been tried merely for attempted murder. If he had not pulled Jennifer off life support, he could have been protected by the double jeopardy clause - and as per the doctor's, Jennifer could have died anyway. Crawford is arrested by the waiting police. The film ends with a new trial about to begin. This time, the defendant is surrounded by attorneys.

• xGary X

  
  A brilliant engineer murders his wife in cold blood, immediately giving himself up and confessing. But against such a wily opponent, what seemed like an open and shut case proves to be a lot harder to prove than the prosecutor first suspected. Rather like the old Columbo format,… More
  A brilliant engineer murders his wife in cold blood, immediately giving himself up and confessing. But against such a wily opponent, what seemed like an open and shut case proves to be a lot harder to prove than the prosecutor first suspected. Rather like the old Columbo format, Fracture begins with the murder and the rest of the story involves the police trying to prove the murderer's guilt, and Hopkins' commanding performance as the gleefully smug and arrogant killer is the main reason to watch the film. Because of this and the interesting premise, the opening act to Fracture is very strong indeed, but the film soon descends into documenting the ups and downs of a douchey lawyer and his over-privileged would-be girlfriend who are both very difficult to give a crap about. As things progress it gets more and more mundane and when the big twist turns out to be something I took to be blatantly obvious right from the outset the whole thing reveals itself to be yet another glossy but by the numbers Hollywood courtroom drama. Hopkins is really the only thing worth watching about this film which begins with a bang but ends with a half-hearted whimper.

• Stephen M

  
  On the eve of a prestigious move into corporate law, an ambitious deputy district attorney (Ryan Gosling) agrees to prosecute one final criminal case, the apparent open-and-shut attempted murder of woman by her wealthy businessman husband (Anthony Hopkins). Unfortunately for the… More
  On the eve of a prestigious move into corporate law, an ambitious deputy district attorney (Ryan Gosling) agrees to prosecute one final criminal case, the apparent open-and-shut attempted murder of woman by her wealthy businessman husband (Anthony Hopkins). Unfortunately for the lawyer, his key witness is holding out on him and he has seriously underestimated his opponent. I was disappointed with this. Here's me thinking the clever but transparent mystery of the missing murder weapon is going to be an hors d'oeuvre, merely the opening move in a game of chess, and they drag the bloody thing out to the final scene! Flattering though it is to be five steps ahead of Gosling's character, a legal whiz kid with a 97% conviction rate, that doesn't make my voice any the less hoarse after two hours screaming at the television set! The middle portion of the film, in which Hopkins barely features, is basically a lot of dreary soul-searching on the part of the lawyer, about whether his time would be more profitably spent putting bad people behind bars or sucking corporate cock. The allure of fame and fortune yet to be realised being presumably difficult to portray, the cinematic shorthand is to give Gosling a sexy boss who can't wait to mix business and pleasure (Rosamund Pike). My curiosity to know exactly how Hopkins' character would slip up was all that kept me watching.

• Carlos M

  
  An intriguing thriller that holds well our attention, relying on the amazing talent of both Hopkins and Gosling, who shine in their parts. It is nice to see them dueling in this smart mind confrontation, an above-average cat-and-mouse crime film.

• Thomas J

  
  What a team.... Anthony Hopkins & Ryan Gosling! Excellent performance by both. This was a suspense thrill that both kept me in suspense and was thrilling!

• Jeff "

  
  Fracture despite the fact that it's a tad predictable is still very much an entertaining Thriller. Anthony Hopkins plays Ted Crawford a man accused of killing his wife and Ryan Gosling plays the assistant DA Willy Beachum that prosecutes Crawford. At first the verdict for… More
  Fracture despite the fact that it's a tad predictable is still very much an entertaining Thriller. Anthony Hopkins plays Ted Crawford a man accused of killing his wife and Ryan Gosling plays the assistant DA Willy Beachum that prosecutes Crawford. At first the verdict for Crawfor's crime seems air tight; guilty. With a signed confession and a murder weapon, the case seems bullet proof. But nothing is as it seems. What Beachum doesn't know is that Crawford meticulously planned his crime, as Crawford says himself "it's beautiful." What follows is a game of cat and mouse. Willy Beachum case against Crawford seems to fall apart due to lack of evidence. Thus Ted Crawford is released on a technicality. I won't spoil the rest for you, as I found this film thrilling, and exciting. Gregory Hoblit helms this film and as he's down with his previous films such as Frequency and Hart's War, Fracture is another step forward for Hoblit. Along with Frequency, this is second best film. Even though the film may seem predictable at times, it still manages to to thrill up to the climax, because like I've said, nothing is as it seems. So whatever guessing you may have, you may be wrong. Here Gregory Hoblit has assembled a talented cast of actors able to make this Thriller seem very good. In fact; I thought Fracture is quit a pulse pounding Thriller that delivers something fresh , using traditional elements of the genre. Anthony Hopkins delivers his best, his most vile performance since The Silence Of The Lambs. He really brings menace to the character of Ted Crawford. The part of Ted Crawford was perfect for Hopkins, I can't picture any other actor playing the part. He's simply brilliant. Fracture is not a flawless Thriller, but it sure is very entertaining and will definitely keep you guessing to the end. Fracture is a terrific film, and it proves once again that Gregory Hoblit is seriously underrated as a director. His films always have a tense, thrilling atmosphere to them and he knows how to tell a good story on screen. Fracture is no different, a solid cast and a great story with great directing, makes this film one pulse pounding thrill ride worth watching.

• Alexis N

  
  This film was gripping and had me at the edge of my seat. You won't be able to stop watching. You'll be asking yourself, "Is this guy really getting away with murdering his wife?" There are so many twist and turns. It's a smartly cast suspense murder mystery.

• Richard C

  
  B

• Jens S

  
  The set up for this court thriller is actually rather promising, so is the case itself. The acting is top notch too. Yet I felt strangely indifferent about the film, as excellent as Hopkins is as creepy accused and Gosling as public attorney. Fact is: There is too much law firm /… More
  The set up for this court thriller is actually rather promising, so is the case itself. The acting is top notch too. Yet I felt strangely indifferent about the film, as excellent as Hopkins is as creepy accused and Gosling as public attorney. Fact is: There is too much law firm / prosecution blabla going on that has nothing to do with the case and it all feels strangely unrealistic (or doesn't make the law system look too good, supposing the writers did their homework). In the end it's a decent thriller, but I expected the end twist to be a bit more spectacular than that and was somewhat disappointed after the great things I heard about the film. Still, could be worth your time if nothing else is on and you enjoy court thrillers.

• Film C

  
  excellant its brilliant keeps you guessing right till the end and is extremely clever and very interestin to watch! the story is brilliantly written and is exciting and keeps yo clued to the tv rally worth a watch!

• Dan S

  
  Good set up, well executed.

• Derek A

  
  <i>"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."</i> <p> <i>Fracture</i> is a bit of a sleeper hit in 2007 for me. I'm a little ashamed to say I avoided it for so long because it appeared to be just another rehashed psychological thriller.… More
  <i>"Even a broken clock is right twice a day."</i> <p> <i>Fracture</i> is a bit of a sleeper hit in 2007 for me. I'm a little ashamed to say I avoided it for so long because it appeared to be just another rehashed psychological thriller. This film is about a young ambitious district attorney who has the seemingly easy task of putting away a man who confessed to killing his wife. The young DA underestimates the intelligence of the convicted killer, and he is quickly immersed in a witty game of cat and mouse. <i>Fracture</i> is a witty and intelligent film with great dialog. Anthony Hopkins delivers a spine-tingling performance as the creepy, but smart man who killed his adulterous wife. His performance is very reminiscent of his infamous Hannibal character. Ryan Gosling was also a pleasant surprise here. Charming and good looking, it's nice to see him break out from his <i>The Notebook</i>-style typecast. <i>Fracture</i> is a pleasant thriller with plenty of twists and turns that will leave you guessing until the climatic end. My only real complaint is that I found myself rooting for the bad guy (Hopkins). He was convincingly profound, humorous, and, for what it's worth, sort of justified. Gosling's character came across as an over-achieving twerp who I shared no empathy for. I couldn't care less if he bombed the case and lost his new luxurious job. I was actually rooting for it... I don't think this was the director's intentions. Overall, <i>Fracture</i> is an underrated film that delivers on many levels. <i>"Knowledge is pain."</i>

• Lenny M

  
  Great acting, decent plot, nothing special about the movie.

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