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The Bard obviously prepared Anthony Hopkins to play
charming, witty sociopaths. Hopkins plays a wealthy man
named Crawford who murders his wife (Embeth Davidtz). He
admits it when the police show up but manages to unravel
the carefully put together case of the prosecutor Willy
Beachum (Ryan Gosling) of the the case so he can get away
with it. From there the film becomes a game of cat-and-mouse
both in and out of the court room. Willy finds his job offer
for a major law firm evaporate when it appears that he'll
lose a cut and dried simple case. Crawford representing
himself in court loves butting heads with Willy and beating
him. In fact he takes a liking to the kid so much so that
he just wants to keep on humiliating him. ***
Although a bit uneven, "Fracture" manages to be an
entertaining diversion. Hopkins makes Crawford the perfect
foil for Willy and like a bad guy out of a Hitchcock film
as appealing in his own way (in fact sometimes more appealing)
than our hero who seems wrapped up in himself just as much
as Crawford is. The two characters are imperfect reflections
of each other the only difference between them is that Crawford
is a sociopath while Willy seems like someone who's morality
might be swayed by a strong wind in the opposite direction.
The conflict helps Willy find his moral compass again in
the face of his overwhelming ambition. ***
This isn't foreign territory for director Gregory Hoblit
("Primal Fear", "Fallen") and he does a great job of pacing
the film. In fact the morally ambigtious characters that
live in this world are reflections of others in films he
has directed but not quite as complex or with as much moral
shading. The script by Glenn Gers and Daniel Pyne doesn't
avoid the cliches of the genre but, instead, turns them
on their heads which is part of what makes "Fracture" so
entertaining. Hoblit doesn't shy away from allowing this
intense game from being clever nor does he does he dumb
it down for the average audience. Although by the conclusion
the film becomes a bit predictable, Hoblit juggles the balls
so well until then that he can be forgiven for dropping
one now and again. ---
Image & Sound:
"Fracture" looks quite nice on Blu-ray with a strong,
detailed transfer. Colors are a bit subdued but they also
were on the original DVD and theatrical exhibition of the
film fitting the theme/feel of the film. Skin tones are
a bit off in the transfer here but I'm not sure if that
was a deliberate effect or not. There are a couple of scenes
where the film shifts from a very sharp transfer to a soft
one I suspect probably due to an attempt to reduce film
grain. ***
Audio sounds extremely good throughout. Dialogue comes
across clean and clear. There's nice use of the surround
format throughout the film. ---
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