Quartile rating: 7.5/10 · 1 rating
A husband is on trial for the attempted murder of his wife, in what is seemingly an open/shut case for the ambitious district attorney trying to put him away. However, there are surprises for both around every corner, and, as a suspenseful game of cat-and-mouse is played out, each must manipulate and outwit the other.
Fracture is a sleek, well-crafted legal thriller elevated significantly by Anthony Hopkins delivering a deliciously controlled, chess-master performance as the calculating Ted Crawford, with Ryan Gosling holding his own as the ambitious prosecutor. The plot is a competent cat-and-mouse legal puzzle — clever enough in its central mechanism (the gun switch) but fairly conventional in its courtroom drama structure and character arcs. Cinematography is polished but unremarkable for the genre. Novelty is moderate: the film has a distinctive Hopkins-driven menace and sharp dialogue that sets it above generic thrillers, but it doesn't reinvent the legal thriller wheel. The ending resolves the central puzzle satisfyingly if somewhat formulaically, with Crawford's hubris ultimately undoing him in a neat but not especially surprising turn.