Fracture

Ted Crawford shoots his wife. He knows she is cheating on him and she knows with whom. So, yes, it is pre-meditated. There is never any doubt that he did it. There are, however, several problems, not the least of them the fact that the arresting officer is Lt. Nunally, the guy the wife was having an affair with.

When Nunally comes to the scene he does not know who Crawford is, as he has only been meeting with his lover under the names 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith'. Crawford lets him into the house under the condition that both men put their guns down. He confesses to Nunally then and there. When the policeman sees the victim, he goes off on Crawford (not proper conduct for a police officer). Crawford later repeats his confession and signs it at the police station - with Nunally in presence during interrogation.

The prosecutor of the case, Willy Beachum, does not know the connection between the victim (who is still alive, but in a coma that she has very little chance of ever coming out of) and the arresting officer. Beachum is very ambitious and has secured a new job at a prestigious law firm ('it's all about the money, money, money') and this is to be his very last case. Unfortunately, he grossly underestimates Crawford and isn't paying as much attention to the task at hand as he should be.

Crawford chooses to defend himself, offers to start trial right away, recants his confession and pleads not guilty. Beachum's underestimating him is not the biggest problem with the case. The gun they find at the Crawford house - the only gun they find, no matter how many times they turn the house upside down - is not the murder weapon. And then, when Beachum learns that Nunally was having an affair with the victim right when he is on the witness stand, the case falls apart.

Thanks to his failure, Beachum loses the new job he has not started yet and - despite his (old) boss having his back - he is done with being a prosecutor. But when he realizes that Crawford is about to pull the plug on his wife's life support, he begs for any help he can get to stop it. He does get the paperwork legally required but does not make it on time.

And then all the pieces fall into place and Beachum goes to see Crawford at his house. He explains his theory of where the murder weapon is - Nunally's gun that Crawford replaced while the officer attended to the victim. Crawford, thinking himself in the safe haven of 'double jeopardy', is as condescending as can be, owning up to everything because he is convinced nobody can touch him now. But the big mistake he made was taking his wife off life support. He beat the trial for attempted murder due to lack of physical evidence but will now be retried for murder in the first degree - with the murder weapon in evidence.

Justice is served.

A brilliant group of actors make this much more exciting than I made it sound.

7/10