Fracture

New Line Home Entertainment N10703 - Region 1
113 minutes

List Price: $28.98 (Check Price at Amazon.com)

Available on DVD 8/14/2007

	Theatrical	This DVD
Aspect Ratio:	2.35:1	2.35:1
Audio:	Dolby Digital DTS SDDS	Dolby Digital 5.1

Disc 1 Contents

• Intro Ads
• Trailer for The Golden Compass in theaters
• Trailer for Number 23 on DVD
• Trailer for Michael Clayton in theaters
• Feature for Blade Runner on DVD
• Trailer for Jekyll coming to DVD
  
• Movie
• Extras
• Deleted Scenes/Alternate Scenes
• Theatrical Trailer
• Sneak Peaks (the Intro Ads)
• DVD-ROM/Online Features
  

About the Movie

Anthony Hopkins gives a great performance as a brilliant man who discovers that his wife is being unfaithful and decides that he can't live with that fact, and neither can she. He hatches a plan to kill her, confess to her murder, and walk away a free man. Essential to his plan is the investigating cop (who was his wife's lover) and a cocky assistant District Attorney on his way out of public service for a dream job with a high-profile corporate law firm.

The chess match that follows is an intriguing movie that seldom fails to keep your attention. While there are some editing missteps, and the casting of Hopkins in the bad-guy role evokes memories of his previous Hannibal Lecter character from "The Silence of the Lambs," this was an enjoyable movie when it was released in theaters and it was enjoyable seeing it the second time around. The deleted scenes actually filled in some holes that I felt were present after seeing it in the theater, so don't miss them on this DVD.

How Does it Look?

The video quality was pretty impressive. Most of the movie takes place at night, in prison, or in a courtroom, so there are challenging. That doesn't mean that the cinematography is lacking, though. There are a few shots that are very impressive!

How Does it Sound?

The audio served the movie well. A courtroom drama doesn't lend itself to amazing soundtracks, and one isn't necessary for a movie like this, so that's not a problem.

Extras

I like to see the theatrical trailer included with movies, so I'm happy to see that they included one on this DVD. The extras are valuable in the fact that the deleted scenes flesh out the romantic relationship between Willie and his new boss. In the theatrical version, her actions aren't very explainable considering what she has to lose. That issue is explained a little better with the inclusion of those scenes.

The DVD also advertises DVD ROM and online extras, so I checked it out with the New Line player by InterActual that runs automatically when you insert the DVD into a PC. At first I was not able to get the application to load properly, but after rebooting, the problem disappeared. It turns out, however, that the effort was not rewarded with anything beyond three links to the web sites for New Line, Picturehouse, and the New Line store, and what they call a "hot spot," which contained advertising for the DVD releases of "A Prairie Home Companion" and "The Notorious Bettie Page."

Since both movies featured in the "hot spot" saw their DVD releases about a year ago, I'm thinking that someone in charge of that part of New Line's marketing has forgotten that the "hot spot" exists. I find it odd that there wasn't even a direct link to the official movie web site for the movie whose DVD I had inserted. While I was expecting to find content devoted to the movie that was over and above what the general public had access to, I didn't even get an easy way to see that. Very disappointing. They would have been better off not mentioning any DVD ROM or online features to begin with.

Conclusion

I'm a sucker for crime dramas. I've watched every episode of Law & Order and I like courtroom dramas and the cat and mouse game between worthy opponents. Fracture delivers in that department, and the performances by everyone involved are great. It's well worth seeing, and in this case, the home video version is the preferable way to see this movie. It's just unfortunate that the extra scenes could not have been inserted seamlessly so that the more complete movie could be enjoyed from beginning to end.

Recommended Reading

Don't just take our word for it, check out these resources for more reviews of the movie and of the DVD.

• Movie Reviews
• BigScreen Reader Reviews and Featured Reviews
  
• DVD Reviews
• Randy Miller III of DVD Talk
  
• Tom Becker of DVD Verdict

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