Fracture

Anthony Hopkins does his signature smarter-than-thou routine against Ryan Gosling’s date with disappointment in this mediocre suspense thriller about an ambitious young attorney Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) who takes on an open-an-shut murder case only to discover that he is in over his head. It seems that when aeronautical engineer Ted Crawford (Hopkins) murdered his wife in cold blood, he had already planned the courtroom fallout of his deed to a tee. The courtroom drama aspect of the story wrestles with a minimally suspenseful imminent showdown between Hopkins and Gosling. The actors elevate the overworked and under- executed script, but not enough to make "Fracture" a thriller worth going out of your way for.

Rated R. 111 mins. (C+) (Two Stars)