Despite the very mixed opinions on Fracture the casting was very promising, which was reason enough to check it out. After watching, Fracture had a lot to recommend but didn't fully live up to its potential.
Fracture does have a lot of good qualities or so I thought. It's very stylishly filmed with some unusual but well-done camera angles and eye popping colours. The music score is suitably understated and suspenseful, the script is clever and sharp with some intelligent dialogue in the courtroom scenes and the story has its diverting parts with the courtroom drama entertaining and suspenseful and the twist is interesting. It's well directed and the cast were great and lived up to their potential. Anthony Hopkins' accent is inconsistent but he's still chillingly commanding and Ryan Gosling is equally very good in a very polar opposite role. Their cat and mouse chemistry provide a lot of the film's entertainment. Embeth Davidtz, Billy Burke and David Strathiarn acquit themselves very well too and Fiona Shaw stands out as a sharp-tongued, dry-witted judge.
Wasn't crazy about Rosamund Pike here, she looks great and is a talented actress with a number of good performances under her belt, but while she makes a real effort to give off a cool-as-ice authority I found her character to be pointless and very indecisively written. The story has its fair share of good parts but it is also majorly flawed, it does get complicated and ridiculously preposterous complete with a thrown-in and unnecessary romantic subplot and an ending that has too many loose ends. The pacing can be absorbing but can have a tendency to drag and unfortunately when it does it does so badly. Overall, entertaining and well-made with a good cast who give impressive performances but very problematic in the story department, which is a shame. 6/10 Bethany Cox
Fracture does have a lot of good qualities or so I thought. It's very stylishly filmed with some unusual but well-done camera angles and eye popping colours. The music score is suitably understated and suspenseful, the script is clever and sharp with some intelligent dialogue in the courtroom scenes and the story has its diverting parts with the courtroom drama entertaining and suspenseful and the twist is interesting. It's well directed and the cast were great and lived up to their potential. Anthony Hopkins' accent is inconsistent but he's still chillingly commanding and Ryan Gosling is equally very good in a very polar opposite role. Their cat and mouse chemistry provide a lot of the film's entertainment. Embeth Davidtz, Billy Burke and David Strathiarn acquit themselves very well too and Fiona Shaw stands out as a sharp-tongued, dry-witted judge.
Wasn't crazy about Rosamund Pike here, she looks great and is a talented actress with a number of good performances under her belt, but while she makes a real effort to give off a cool-as-ice authority I found her character to be pointless and very indecisively written. The story has its fair share of good parts but it is also majorly flawed, it does get complicated and ridiculously preposterous complete with a thrown-in and unnecessary romantic subplot and an ending that has too many loose ends. The pacing can be absorbing but can have a tendency to drag and unfortunately when it does it does so badly. Overall, entertaining and well-made with a good cast who give impressive performances but very problematic in the story department, which is a shame. 6/10 Bethany Cox