The film’s composers, Mychael Danna and Jeff Danna, provide ominous music in the background to give things an edgy quality.
Sometimes cinematographer Kramer Morgenthau uses extreme wide angle lenses to take it all in. Perhaps to distract viewers from such shortcomings, Hoblit takes you on a whirlwind tour of Los Angeles high life, from sleek executive suites, the Disney Concert Hall and the Standard Hotel Downtown’s rooftop lounge to the Miramar Hotel at Santa Monica Beach and Ted’s exquisite estate. Where did that come from? And what purpose does it serve, anyway? Willy and his new boss have no sooner shaken hands then they are in bed. There might be bits and pieces missing here in the final edit. He really should get away with his crime if you can get past the fact he coldly put a bullet into his wife’s brain. Conversely, Ted is a formula villain, but Hopkins adds actorish touches to give him enough backbone and foul flesh to make him an amusing villain. Give the filmmakers credit for doing nothing to make this slickster lawyer the least bit likable.
Willy is a poor boy whose head swims in the high altitude of downtown corporate suites. The movie has thrown in a bit of class consciousness. Even if his “weakness” is that he hates to lose, this would never trump his burning desire to become a corporate legal eagle. Sure, criminal defendants pick their own prosecuting attorney all the time.īut how can Ted predict that Willy will jeopardize his corporate law career to pursue him? Nothing in his psychological profile fits that act: Willy reeks of greed, ambition and arrogance - but not stupidity. Of course, you have to accept that he can absolutely predict how everyone will behave, starting with his wife’s cop lover and a judge and assistant D.A., who allow Ted to pick his prosecuting attorney. Everything neatly slots into place in Ted’s cunning murder scheme. It never turns up.Įven this brief synopsis indicates how coldly mechanical Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers’ script is, like those intriguing but pointless contraptions Ted keeps in his home. Leaving Willy with no evidence unless he can find the real murder weapon. And because the first cop on the scene, Detective Rob Nunally (Billy Burke), is none other than the victim’s lover - he somehow never learned her last name or identity - the confession is tossed out. The alleged murder weapon, a gun, has never fired a bullet. Indeed, the case falls apart almost immediately. Since Ted has dictated and signed a confession to attempted murder - his wife lies comatose in a hospital - so what can go wrong? The point here, of course, is Willy is not paying attention to details when he agrees to prosecute Ted as his last case for the D.A. He’s so rushed that he appears at Ted’s arraignment in a tuxedo for that night’s event. He rushes to wind up his affairs in the D.A.’s Office, appear at a charity benefit, get cozy with his lovely new boss (Rosamund Pike) and select the design for his plush new office. Willy Beachum also is in a hurry, having just landed a lucrative job with a downtown law firm. Moments after she arrives, he shoots her point blank in the face. He sneaks into the hotel room the lovers have so conveniently vacated for the swimming pool, does something in that room - you know this will be important later - then races to his polished modern home to await his wife’s return. He dashes out of his office and heads immediately to the hotel where his wife is conducting an adulterous affair.
Hopkins’ Ted Crawford apparently is a rich aeronautical genius and CEO with a love for precision and Rube Goldberg machines, a beautiful trophy wife (Embeth Davidtz) and a luxurious lifestyle. The antagonists already are in motion as the movie begins. New Line should see average to above-average grosses for the first two weeks with this sleek Los Angeles-set thriller before it takes its place on video shelves next to such courtroom thrillers as “Jagged Edge” and, yes, Hoblit’s own “Primal Fear.” A curiosity for film buffs is that Hoblit has essentially remade his own debut feature. “Fracture” plays mostly to an older crowd, though Gosling might attract younger viewers.
0 kommentar(er)
