Fracture has a major flaw. Often critics will say coyly that there are holes in the plot big enough to drive a truck through, and I never know what they are talking about and they never say. Same with Fracture. Critics have claimed it has “plot holes” and that the movie does not withstand scrutiny, but they never explain. They must be incredibly smart. The flaw in Fracture occurs right at the beginning. The brilliant Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) finds his wife (Embeth Davidtz) cheating with some guy, and when she arrives home, he shoots her in the head. But the police can find no murder weapon. The guy having the affair is a police detective, Crawford steals his gun and shots Mrs. Crawford, and then, when the detective is distraught over his lover laying in a pool of blood, Crawford slips the gun back in the detective’s clothing, and the detective walks the gun out of the crime scene. The problem with this strategy, upon which the entire movie rests, is that Crawford could not have known that the detective would show up at the crime scene. Maybe he was off duty? Maybe more than one detective covered the area and chance had another policeman show up? Maybe the detective was simply in a meeting? Similarly, Crawford could not have known exactly how the detective and the other cops at the scene would behave. What if the detective showed up late and the cops arrested Crawford with the gun in his hand? Such questions are important because for a brilliant and careful man like Crawford, one slip means he is guilty of first degree murder. He wouldn’t take the risk. But given that the movie says he does, this legal thriller is pretty good. Besides the gun twist, there is another twist at the end of the movie which is rather clever. Of course the movie is unnecessary in that we don’t need another formulaic legal thriller like this, but everyone does a competent job to create a movie that holds your interest but probably does not stay in your memory.
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