Fracture (2007 film)
| Fracture | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Gregory Hoblit |
| Produced by | Charles Weinstock |
| Written by | Glenn Gers Daniel Pyne |
| Starring | Ryan Gosling Anthony Hopkins David Strathairn Rosamund Pike Embeth Davidtz |
| Music by | Jeff Danna Mychael Danna |
| Cinematography | Kramer Morgenthau |
| Editing by | David Rosenbloom |
| Studio | Castle Rock Entertainment |
| Distributed by | New Line Cinema |
| Release date(s) | April 20, 2007 |
| Running time | 113 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $10,000,000 |
| Box office | $91,354,215[1] |
Fracture is a 2007 legal/crime suspense film from New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment, directed by Gregory Hoblit, starring Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. The screenplay is by Glenn Gers and Daniel Pyne.
It is the story of a man who shoots his unfaithful wife and a young prosecutor trying to prevent him from manipulating the justice system to get away with the crime.
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[edit] Plot
Theodore "Ted" Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy and talented Irish aeronautical engineer in Los Angeles, discovers that his wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair with police detective Robert Nunally (Billy Burke). After confronting his wife, Crawford shoots her, seriously wounding her, and immediately confesses the crime to Nunally at the scene.
He then engages in a battle of wits with rising star deputy district attorney William "Willy" Beachum (Ryan Gosling), who considers this an open-and-shut matter and agrees to immediately go to trial. Beachum is busy, making preparations for his transition from criminal law to corporate attorney for Wooton & Simms, a well-known law firm, and begins a romantic relationship with his future boss, Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike).
At the trial, Crawford acts as his own attorney, which serves as a key vehicle for the plot of the movie—matching up against a star prosecutor against a supposedly untrained litigant. Crawford reveals that the arresting officer (Nunally) was having an affair with his wife, assaulted him during his arrest, and was present during his interrogation. Crawford's confession is ruled to be inadmissible as evidence, as it was fruit of the poisonous tree. Beachum discovers that Crawford's handgun was not used to shoot his wife because it had never been fired and did not match the shell casings at the crime scene. As the house was under surveillance the entire time from the shooting to Crawford's arrest the police are baffled.
Beachum is tempted by Nunally's scheme to plant false evidence to implicate Crawford but decides against it at the last minute. With no new evidence to present to the jury, Beachum is forced to concede the trial, and Crawford is acquitted. The disgraced Nunally commits suicide with his own gun outside the courtroom.
Beachum's future with the prestigious firm is in tatters. With the case closed, he obsessively continues to search for evidence, repeatedly visiting the comatose Jennifer in the hospital, hoping that she will wake up. However, at Crawford's request, a restraining order is issued forbidding Beachum to visit the patient. Realizing that Crawford's plan is to dispose of the only eyewitness to the crime, Beachum goes to great lengths to get a court order to keep Jennifer on life support. Nikki Gardner refuses to help him, and they end their relationship. In a last-ditch effort, Beachum is able to get a court order from Nikki's father, who is a judge. Beachum arrives at the hospital just as staff are turning off Jennifer's life support, and despite announcing he is carrying a court order, security prevent him from entering and Jennifer dies.
A mix-up of cell phones causes Beachum to realize that both Nunally and Crawford used the same type of gun. He figures out that before the crime Crawford switched his gun with Nunally's in a hotel room where Jennifer and Nunally secretly met. Crawford shot his wife with Nunally's gun, whereupon the detective arrived on the scene carrying Crawford's gun. While Nunally lingered over Jennifer, trying to revive her, Crawford reloaded Nunally's gun and placed it back where Nunally had left it, while at the same time taking back his original, unused gun. Distracted by the sight of Jennifer's body, Nunally did not notice the guns being switched back. When Crawford appears back in the room brandishing his original gun, Nunally tackles and assaults him before he is arrested, at which point Nunally unwittingly holsters his own gun, the murder weapon, and lets Crawford's unused one be taken as evidence.
Beachum confronts Crawford with his new evidence. Since she died, the bullet lodged in Jennifer's head can now be retrieved and matched with Nunally's gun. Beachum tricks Crawford into confessing, knowing that Crawford thinks he is protected under the double jeopardy clause. However, Beachum reveals that by allowing his wife to die, Crawford can now be prosecuted for murder, having previously been tried merely for attempted murder. If he had not taken Jennifer off life support, he could have been protected by the double jeopardy clause. Crawford is arrested by the waiting police.
The film ends with a new trial about to begin, with Beachum prosecuting and Crawford surrounded by defence attorneys from Wooton and Sims.
[edit] Cast
- Anthony Hopkins as Theodore "Ted" Crawford
- Ryan Gosling as William "Willy" Beachum
- David Strathairn as District Attorney Joe Lobruto
- Rosamund Pike as Nikki Gardner
- Embeth Davidtz as Jennifer Crawford
- Billy Burke as Lt. Rob Nunally
- Cliff Curtis as Detective Flores
- Fiona Shaw as Judge Robinson
- Bob Gunton as Judge Frank Gardner
- Josh Stamberg as Norman Foster
- Xander Berkeley as Judge Moran
- Zoe Kazan as Mona
[edit] Critical reception
The film was received with generally positive reviews and holds a "fresh" rating of 71% on Rotten Tomatoes.
[edit] Awards
Fracture was nominated for two awards. The first nomination was the Teen Choice Award for Ryan Gosling in the Choice Movie Actor category.[2] The second nomination was for World Soundtrack Award for Mychael Danna in the Film Composer of the Year category.[3]
[edit] Production
Scenes for the film were shot on location in Encino, California at the Sherman residence (Noeline Ave, Encino, CA), a ranch home designed by Peter Tolkin Architecture. Producer, Hawk Koch, said, "My challenge was to make our film look like a 60 or 70-million dollar film and not spend anywhere near that kind of money. I'm proud that we could make a rich-looking movie, work decent hours and do it for a good price. We owe thanks to our D.P., Kramer Morgenthau, who can light fast and made every scene look exquisite. He's going to have a name as one of the best in the business for a long time to come." The film was released on April 20, 2007 and made $39,004,700 at the Box Office. The critics review of this film gave it an average of a B. The film is rated R in the USA due to language and some violent content. New Line Cinema was the distributor for the movie.
[edit] References
- ^ Fracture (2007). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved October 15, 2010.
- ^ Top 49 Men of 2007 No. 45: Ryan Gosling. AskMen.com. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
- ^ Fracture (2007) - Awards. Retrieved September 19, 2010.
[edit] External links
- Official website
- Fracture at the Internet Movie Database
- Fracture at AllRovi
- Fracture at Rotten Tomatoes
- Fracture at Box Office Mojo
- Fracture (2007) - Review
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