Hopkins plays Ted Crawford, a complex, manipulative, fastidious and malevolent husband, who shoots his wife after he learns that she is having an affair. This is no spontaneous crime of passion. He plans the murder with the precision of a Swiss watch. The cheating wife, played by Embeth Davidtz (previously seen in Hoblit's Fallen), has been enjoying midday get-togethers with a police detective (Billy Burke). The same guy, in fact, who arrives at the murder scene while Ted still has the gun in hand.

Enter Assistant DA Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling), a prodigy with an impressive conviction rate and a big-money offer from a prestigious law firm in the private sector. He agrees to prosecute one last case before jumping to the legal elite. Crawford, however, is the coolest of customers. The case is not the "open and shut" affair that it first seems. The fact that the slain spouse and the investigating detective were having an affair is the bombshell that blows up in the young attorney's face.

Because of the success of procedural dramas in primetime, a police/courtroom drama in this day and age must be smart. The average adult now knows legal terminology and nuances that only law enforcement officials and lawyers would have known 20 years ago. This is where director Gregory Hoblit comes in. He is incredibly adept in this world, having begun his career directing Hill Street Blues, followed by LA Law and NYPD Blue. His first feature film was the courtroom thriller Primal Fear, which had smart performances by Richard Gere and Laura Linney, as well as the spectacular film debut of Edward Norton. In short, Hoblit knows his way around a police station and a courtroom.

Armed with a serviceable script by Daniel Pyne and Glenn Gers, Hoblit and his top-notch cast ratchet up the intrigue, and they kept me asking, "How did he do it?" I consider myself to be a fairly smart guy, so it's worth noting that I never figured it out for myself. The joy here is more than the clever plot points, however. Anthony Hopkins is one of the world's finest actors, and in Fracture, he plays a character who echoes his most famous role, the iconic Hannibal Lecter.

Ted Crawford is remarkably intelligent -- certainly smarter than the cops and the hotshot assistant DA trying to put him away. He is an engineer by profession and spends his time looking for "the weak spot" -- in every one and every thing. This isn't a Lecter rehash, but it is fun to watch Hopkins's Ted toy with Gosling's Willy in ways reminiscent of Hannibal and Clarice.

I went to the screening already a huge fan of Gosling. I've long considered him to be among the top two or three actors of his generation. The success of The Notebook, a schmaltzy box-office hit, rested squarely on his shoulders (with a strong assist from Rachel McAdams), and his Oscar-nominated role in Ryan Fleck's Half Nelson was among the most textured and shaded performances in recent memory. Here, Gosling plays a cocky climber whose career and life unravel before our eyes. This role is more evidence that he will continue to be one of the most important young actors working today.

There are solid performances across the board including from the luminous Davidtz, David Strathairn (Good Night & Good Luck) as Gosling's hangdog DA boss, and Rosamund Pike (Bond girl Miranda Frost from Die Another Day), who plays the love interest for the young attorney. In the end, Fracture is breezy, classy, high-end entertainment for grown-ups that is likely to be smarter than anything else at the local multiplex in late April. The film is a taut courtroom thriller featuring great actors at the top of their game, and, no matter how many episodes of CSI and Law & Order you have seen, you probably still won’t be able to figure out how the crafty killer pulled off his nifty crime.

FantasyMoguls.com Lowdown for Fracture
Original FantasyMoguls.com Projections for Fracture were for a 6.7 IMDb User Rating, $38 million in total domestic gross,  4 Top 5 points and 2 PTA Points. Steve's revised projections, based on seeing the film and reviewing its updated release plan and tracking, are as follows:
Box Office: $47.5 million
IMDb User Rating: 6.9
Top 5: 6 points
PTA: 3 points