Fracture

Gregory Hoblit’s Fracture might as well have been called Silence of the Lawyers. It’s hard to watch wife killer Ted Crawford (Sir Anthony Hopkins) and not be reminded of Dr. Hannibal Lecter, at least on the surface. Both could be considered psychological rapists, though Lecter is more gore than grit. Both feature Hopkins as a brilliant criminal who commands fear with his words and wiles. Both also feature protagonists seeking justice while fumbling to dissect Hopkins’ mind. The main difference, of course, is this: Silence creeps up on you slowly, trying your patience before it eats you alive, while Fracture, conversely, swears to you that it’s full of pulse-pounding twists but all you get is an earnest brain-tease that is ultimately too smart for its own good. The story revolves around Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), a dainty young prosecutor with only two weeks left at his current job. When a high-profile law firm offers him a gig, Beachum’s ego takes a boost and his focus starts to drift. His last case before the move appears to be a no-brainer: wealthy engineer Ted Crawford has just been convicted of shooting his wife, who lays comatose in a hospital bed while the legal proceedings unfold. The film's opening sequences hint at what drove Crawford to attempted murder but one thing’s for sure: we saw him do it. Or so we think. Crawford’s devilish plan skews the blatant evidence and now nobody knows just what in the hell is going on. Granted, Hopkins and Gosling turn in solid performances, carrying most of the film with their Starling/Lecter to and fro. Gosling’s eventual mental torment comes at the hand of Hopkins’ psychoanalysis, steering us into familiar territory. Unfortunately, our supporting characters only exist to cramp the film’s style — Willy’s new boss and expressionless love interest (Rosamund Pike), the near-laughable performance of the guy who plays El Padrino in Blow as a hopeless cop. In the end, the plot ends up being painfully linear: all the pieces seem to literally fall into place, leading to more cheap thrills than smarts. And don’t expect much from the bonus features. All we get are two alternate endings (which make very little sense) and five deleted scenes (refer to alternate endings). Verdict: You’ll have a lot more fun with Lecter than Crawford.