Posted by
Emmett of the Unblinking Eye on Monday, April 23, 2007 12:03:12 AM
In a past (or maybe present) life I was/am a trial lawyer. Consequently, movies about lawyers, the law, and particularly trials drive me batty -- just as I'm sure that medical movies drive doctors batty, police movies drive cops batty, etc. And
Fracture, the latest channeling of Hannibal Lecter by
Anthony Hopkins, is no exception. For example, if the primary prosecution witness not only flubs up his testimony, but leaps from the witness stands, dashes across the well, and leaps over the defense table to strangle the defendant, most lawyers would seriously consider asking for a mistrial. But that's why there is reality on one side of the fence, and cinema on the other.
Still, with all its legal faults -- and there are many --
Fracture is a fairly entertaining film because of the bravura acting talents of Hopkins and
Ryan Gosling. Hopkins plays a very bright and slightly mad aeronautical engineer who shoots his adulterous wife (
Embeth Davidtz) in the mug, confesses to it, and is then prosecuted by Gosling. And with a confession and the murder weapon, it should be a short trial -- and movie. But then again....
What makes the movie work (to the extent it does) is the interaction between Hopkins and Gosling. Each is head and shoulders above any of their respective contemporaries, and both seem to have great fun playing off each other. It almost makes you forget the incongruities of the plot. Almost.