Fracture

I rented Fracture the other night. I recently watched Ryan Gosling in Lars and the Real Girl and felt that he was exceptional in that movie. Now having seen two of his movies, I am certain that he is destined for a rewarding career in Hollywood. Fracture takes us on a psychological ride inside the head of Hannibal Lecter...no wait, that's another movie. Ah yes, Ted Crawford, another calculating madman played by the notoriously devilish and extremely talented Anthony Hopkins. NOTE: This review will only reveal minor details regarding the plot of this movie.

The concept of this movie is interesting. I don't know that it's realistic that an individual could so accurately predict his opponent's every movement the way Ted Crawford does in this movie, but it is a Psychological Thriller...so I'll give them that. The dialogue in this movie is spot on. The characters are well-developed, if not just a little bit predictable. The story line seems predictable but offers a few twists and turns along the way. The totality of the writing is solid, but not without flaws. Some of the writing requires a little bit of willful suspension of disbelief to use a Hillaryism.

As I mentioned earlier, Ryan Gosling is a surprisingly talented up and comer. He delivered another great performance in a role completely different from his last. It is refreshing to see a talented actor doing something entirely different to avoid getting type-cast. Anthony Hopkins on the other hand played the character he plays best. The cold, calculating murder-prone madman that he made famous as Hannibal Lecter. In this film, Hopkins delivers the goods as usual. His character makes you want to like him and hate him at the same time. David Strathairn, Billy Burke, Rosamund Pike, Embeth Davidtz, Cliff Curtis, Fiona Shaw, Xander Berkeley and Joe Spano all deliver strong performances in support of our two main characters. The acting was spot on.

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