Fractured Flick

So last night we watched the DVD of Fractured with Sir Anthony "Big Tony" Hopkins and Ryan "Goosey" Gosling and, well, I had bigger expectations. Sure, there were plenty of fine elements that went into this picture. Both lead actors are gifted and hardworking. Hopkins needs only to look in the general direction of the camera to inspire whatever emotion he feels like and gosling has a unique ability to be the every-man and the rebel simultaneously, like James dean channeling Henry Fonda. But enough fawning. Several issues arose through the course of the film that deserve brief illumination. For starters, Hopkins and director Gregory Hoblit (Frequency and Primal Fear) should have decided early on just exactly what accent to give Hopkins' character Ted Crawford. At various times he is English London, English northern, Irish and American. not only is this distracting but it is indicative of the larger inconsistencies. neither character is ever really fleshed out. No one becomes bigger than life. Several peripheral character make great insightful observations about the theoretical motivations of our two leads but that is about it for development. WE don't get enough interplay and sparring between the two leads. They verbally slap at each other a few times and then go their separate ways to lick their wounds, never really getting at anything important. The several confrontations just fall flat. when bruised the Gosling character goes away to mope and the Hopkins character throws a shot-lived temper-tantrum, both of which feel empty and cheap.
Another issue, at least for me, is that the "legal thriller" aspect was fairly amateur. I am no lawyer, but I would be a unstoppable attorney in the world of Law and Order. This is not due to any brilliance on my part but to a simplistic understanding of formula and rhythm. Relying only on flawed understanding of law theory and the ability to recognise character actors, I can tell you at twenty minutes who the real killer is, and how Jack McCoy is going to convict him. I can even fairly accurately tell how the defense is going to supress certain damning evidence. I had no trouble pulling the same stunt watching Fracture. But this did not have the same effect as figuring out a good mystery a few mments before a hero detective. Instead it made the whole thing predictable.
Had this been a television drama, or movie with lesser talents, I would have been pleased, but these guys should be held to a higher standard.