Fracture is a
2007 legal/
crime suspense film from both
New Line Cinema and
Castle Rock Entertainment, directed by
Gregory Hoblit and starring
Anthony Hopkins and
Ryan Gosling. Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) discovers that his wife has been having an affair. He then murders her and uses the justice system to prove his innocence. However, William Beachum (Ryan Gosling) is a determined lawyer bound to prove his guilt.
Summary
Theodore "Ted" Crawford (
Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy and talented structural engineer, discovers his wife Jennifer (
Embeth Davidtz) is having an affair with police detective Rob Nunally (
Billy Burke). Crawford proceeds to shoot his wife, seriously wounding her and he immediately confesses the crime to Nunally on the scene. However, at his arraignment, Crawford retracts his confession.
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 go to trial. Beachum is busy making preparations for his transition from criminal law to corporate attorney for
Wooton & Simms, a well-known 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 as a supposedly untrained litigant. Crawford reveals that the arresting officer (Nunally) was having an affair with his wife and was also present during his interrogation. His 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. Since 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 (a
Glock 21 .45 cal) outside the courtroom.
Beachum's future with the prestigious firm is in tatters. With the case closed, he obsessively continues to search for evidence. He repeatedly visits the comatose Jennifer in the hospital, hoping she will wake up. But 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 refuses to help him and they end their relationship. Beachum arrives too late and Crawford orders the hospital staff to take Jennifer off life support, allowing her to die.
A mix-up of cellphones leads Beachum to realize that both Nunally and Crawford used the same gun. He figures out that before the crime, Crawford switched his gun with Nunally's identical
Glock 21 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 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 own gun, Nunally tackles and beats him up before Crawford is arrested, at which point Nunally unwittingly holsters his own gun, the murder weapon, and lets Crawford's unused one to 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 pulled 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. This time, the defendant is surrounded by attorneys.
Cast
Awards
Fracture was nominated for two awards. The first nomination was the
Teen Choice Award for
Ryan Gosling in the Choice Movie Actor category. The second nomination was for World Soundtrack Award for
Mychael Danna in the Film Composer of the Year category.
[ www.imdb.com/title/tt0488120/awards]
Production
This is the first
New Line Cinema/
Castle Rock Entertainment collaboration since the mid-'90s before both companies were bought by
Ted Turner. Scenes for the film were shot on location in
Encino, California at the Sherman residence, 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."
[www.usanetwork.com/movies/fracture/thefilm/overview_7.html] 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 for language and some violent content.
New Line Cinema was the distributor for the movie.
