Sir Anthony Hopkins trots out another psycho you'll hate to love in Fracture, a by-the-numbers legal thriller that's redeemed by electric performances from its two leads. Hopkins is on fine accent-bending, twinkle-eyed form as aeronautics engineer Ted Crawford, who has devised the perfect way to bump off his cheating wife. Ryan Gosling positively crackles as Willy Beachum, the cocky public prosecutor looking to add Crawford to his long list of successful convictions, before moving into the lucrative world of corporate law.

Despite the glossy look and audience-friendly pacing, it's Hopkins and Gosling's charisma-duelling that provides the film's biggest reward. Apart, they're enjoyable enough, but when they get together to butt intellects -- with Hopkins at his most impish -- things really come to life. Given that Crawford is a rich, sneering murderer and Beachum is a swaggering money-hungry upstart, you'd be forgiven for wondering why you should care at all. This is, after all, an alienating world of elite high-rollers. Not even Rosamund Pike, as Gosling's highly-strung legal eagle love interest elicits any sympathy. But Hopkins and Gosling imbue their characters with such undeniable charm that you could actually end up rooting for either. Without the chemistry, you'd be left with a clever, well-crafted but ultimately empty thriller. It hides its final twist well, but the true triumph is in the casting. --Luke Mawson

'Fracture' is your run of the mill crime thriller with a slight twist, in that we know the defendant actually did the crime from the outset. Hopkins plays the killer in a very dry way, there's no real menace and his accent that wavers from Irish to English in any one scene only undermines his performance further. Gosling is good as the prosecutor and plays his part well. You can pretty much guess the story from the word go and we had guessed the method and ending before the first half hour was up, but that didn't detract too much from the viewing experience. There was a whole sub-story about Gosling moving job to a private law firm that served to show his ambition but added little else to the overall story and was superfluous to the final outcome. As far as thrillers go this one is pretty inoffensive and easy going, it won't shock or leave you breathless but it does keep your interest for the duration and make for a couple of hours of entertaining viewing. Look past Hopkins dire accent and you should be fine!!!

I'd just finished reading Karin Slaughter's book of almost the same name when this dvd popped through my letterbox so I initially thought - obviously mistakenly - that some film producer was ahead of the game!

As a thriller the film works well but only because of Anthony Hopkins as the lead criminal (if proven guilty, of course) and the attempt by a young legal hotshot, Ryan Gosling, to do just that.

Frankly, this would have been a run-of-the-mill made-for-tv film but for these two. Anthony Hopkins is magnificent as an aircraft engineer turned wife-killer who is determined to beat the rap.

I puzzled throughout the film until the answer was revealed just what he had done with the gun he used to kill his wife. Except she didn't die but more than that would reveal the ending. I have to confess, I did work out how the legal eagle could convict the killer and was delighted to see that is what happened - but the gun? Excellent!

I lobbed a star because young Mr. Gosling mumbles and I missed understanding what he was saying quite a lot. Maybe the sound was bad or maybe he should have elocution lessons. Either way, it spoilt the film a little for me.

Rented this film because it had Anthony Hopkins in it. It's a murder suspense with a twist. Hopkins has shot his wife but can he be convicted?

The film works reasonably. There's no bad acting (although Hopkins is patchily Irish- you'll see). The script is okay and the characters are reasonably well developed. It's just all a bit flat.

However on a warm Sunday evening the family watched the film and quite enjoyed it. My advice- watch it while doing something else (e.g. reading the paper) and don't expect a classic.

you know this film is going to be rubbish cause its got sir antony hopkins playing yet another variation of hannibal lecter.this is boring,bland,predictable, and so pointless

The story line was good but the how he does it & why is clear to see from half way through the film. The ending was not a shock but still a good film and worth a watch.