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''Knowledge is pain.''
An attorney intent on climbing the career ladder toward success, finds an unlikely opponent in a manipulative criminal he's trying to prosecute.
Anthony Hopkins: Ted Crawford
Ryan Gosling: Willy Beachum
Given the talented cast, Fracture should have been more than a paint-by-numbers thriller but that's exactly what it results in. It features a few solid performances although they are working with some unremarkable material and can't quite lift the film above mediocrity. The uninspired direction was a bit surprising given the track record of director Gregory Hoblit. He managed to keep things safe and predictable without really adding anything special to the film. I guess he was relying on the strength of his cast which only worked to an extent. The scenes with Gosling and Hopkins were interesting to watch but whenever Hopkins was absent, the film seriously dragged and sleepy eyed Gosling, whos character was really unlikable or relatively weak in some scenes, which made it hard to cheer for him at points.
The screenplay was only average with some decent dialogue being the highlight. The way the screenwriter played out the crime was very formulaic and pretty damn predictable. The ending was fairly obvious from the beginning and it wasn't a big twist ending that makes the viewer feel smart for figuring it out but rather it was an ending that makes the viewer wonder how these supposedly smart characters weren't able to figure it out. So save for some scenes with Gosling and Hopkins, the audience gets to watch a bland story unfold without any real sense of interest.
The film's colours and cinematography is to a degree quite good, and includes some unusual angles. Also was impressed by the use of a wide-angle lens use in the courtroom parts. Sound effects, so often ignored, further add to the realism of the proceedings.
Dialogue is generally effective, and includes some witty lines. When Willy's boss talks with him about being taken off the case, Willy responds: "Even if I find new evidence?" To which his boss retorts: "From where, the evidence store?". So yes Fracture has humour as well as tension here and there.
Despite a seriously flawed script, Fracture is highly absorbing in places, thanks largely to a strong cast and sense of professionalism in the way it's styled. Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling obviously are the bait for any fans of either.
Gosling has gotten to do something a bit different (for his usual weird roles) and Hopkins has managed to do something similar (he does anything and everything nowadays) without ever boring us, one negative was his accent which sounded Irish or something, felt abit odd.
Final word is that Fracture is exciting enough while it's speeding along, though as soon as it slows down it loses it's power. Fracture achieves some positives by giving us a few surprises and making it a game of cat and mouse that ultimately becomes twisted round.
The bravura performances are fun as is the chemistry overall. But Fracture feels like its been done before and more importantly it's been achieved and executed alot better in previous films of the same nature.
7/10
