When wealthy engineer Ted Crawford (Anthony Hopkins) discovers that his wife is having an affair he shoots her point blank in the head before confessing to the police, asking for his trial to be expedited and choosing to represent himself. Prosecutor Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling) who has one foot out of the door on his way to a high paying private firm decides to take one final “slam dunk” of a case. But of course nothing is as simple as it seems.

Fracture, named for the idea that everyone has a weakness, is the sort of high concept thriller that can be pulled apart into improbable plot points or enjoyed for the fact that you can try to work out how our antagonist is going to get away with his crimes until the magic trick is revealed. The idea is simply that Ted is so smart, and we know this because he makes intricate marble run devices, that he has a plan to get out of his crime. But is Willy, the distracted and equally cocky prosecutor smart enough to react?

For the majority of the running time the film’s high concept thriller storyline is a heck of a lot of fun. Only running out of steam in the final third as it reaches for perhaps one twist too many. But before that happens it is great fun watching Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling trying to outdo each other as cocky, confident men.

Hopkins achieves a lot with very little. In the main we see him in a jail cell and a court room. But he still manages to convey his intellect and arrogance in a manner that makes him genuinely scary at times. Gosling has more foils to bounce off of and plays the sort of charmer he would go on to make a name for himself with. Whether it is flirting with his new high powered lawyer boss Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike), arguing the moral responsibility of public office with his current boss DA Joe Lobruto (David Strathairn) or getting frustrated with the police officers involved in investigating the crime; Nunally (Billy Burke) and Flores (Cliff Curtis).

Fracture is not by any stretch of the imagination a great film, but as far as throwaway thrillers go it is an entertaining effort.