This is what happens when you don’t plan ahead of time to buy tickets to the most anticipated comic book movie of the year. You end up at Blockbuster in line behind the rest of the poor saps who also missed out on opening weekend of the Batman sequel, The Dark Knight.

My sister, brother-in-law and I walked aimlessly past an overweight mother of two squatting next to a neatly stacked pile of Goobers and Raisinets. I wonder if Bruce Wayne had ‘The Bat Cave’ updated yet. We walked circles around the ‘New Release’ racks, shaking our heads in despair at the choices before us. Is Heath Ledger’s performance as ‘The Joker’ as good as I think it’ll be? I waited in line with a copy of Anthony Hopkins 2007 Thriller, Fracture, in my hands with one question that kept resurfacing to my mind above the countless others: Why the fuck didn’t I buy Batman tickets an hour ago?

As much as I wanted to (and briefly did), there was no use crying over spilled milk. I had a movie and had no option left but to watch it. "Fracture" starred Anthony Hopkins as Ted Crawford, a wily man being prosecuted for the attempted murder of his wife by up and coming lawyer Willy Beachum, played by Ryan Gosling. Throughout the film, the audience knows that Crawford did, in fact, murder his wife and watches as he cleverly toys with Beachum in and out of the courtroom. The backbone of the story lies on the character development of the two individuals. Gosling’s character is young and ambitious and near obsessed with the thrill of victory. Hopkins’ character is calculating and too smart for his own good -- intent on finding the flaws in everything/everybody. The director, Gregory Hoblit, sets up the two roles on a solid footing before they meet so it seems as if they were meant to go up against one another. I commend the director on his great set-up because the rest of the movie fell into place as a result.

Other times, Crawford would wink at and compliment Beachum in such a way to annoy the hell out of him. It was really fun to watch. Although he played the antagonist, I had a difficult time hating Hopkins’ character due to the charm he exudes even as a villain. The writing and dialogue were stimulating as well, again mostly from the two main characters. This movie was one of the few ‘Thrillers’ I’ve seen where the dialogue was fun more than thrilling. Gosling and Hopkins continuously play cat and mouse as they talk, argue, and threaten one another. In one scene Beachum just finishes up questioning his star witness and seems pleased with the job he is doing. Crawford, who is defending himself horribly thus far in the film, objects to some of the witness’ responses. The rest of the dialogue between the judge and Mr. Crawford went as follows (and I paraphrase):

Judge: On what grounds?
Crawford: I don’t know…I don’t know what it’s called…the legal terminology.
Judge: Well put it in laymen’s terms. On what grounds do you object?
Crawford: On the grounds that the witness was fucking my wife.
Judge: Mr. Crawford!
Crawford: Well you told me to put it in laymen’s terms.

I thought that give and take was priceless and the matter of fact nature of Hopkins’ words made it all the better.

On a side note I loved the marble contraptions that Crawford is seen tinkering with and designing throughout the film. They look like a glorified and much cooler version of the game ‘Mouse Trap’ and if I had an office or a bag of marbles, I would buy one of these things immediately.

Had the circumstances been different, I may have given Fracture a higher rating. But as it stands, the film was still entertaining and kept me focused despite my resolve to stay bitter. Aside from a few transparent twists, I enjoyed Fracture and recommend it to anyone looking for a fun and well acted thriller.

• My sister thinks her husband looks like Ryan Gosling.
• My brother-in-law thinks the watch Goslings character wore, is way too big.