百年50部英文燒腦電影賞析:[11]Fracture 破綻

Theodore “Ted” Crawford(Anthony Hopkins), a wealthy and talented Irish aeronautical engineer in Los Angeles, discovers that his wife Jennifer Crawford(Embeth Davidtz)is having an affair with police detective Robert Nunally(Billy Burke), After confronting his wife, Crawford shoots her, seriously wounding her, and immediately confesses the crime to Nunally at the scene.

He then engages in a battle of wits with rising star deputy district attorney William “Willy” Beachum(Ryan Gosling), who considers this an open-and-shut matter and agrees to go to trial immediately. Beachum is busy, making preparations for his transition from criminal law to corporate attorney for Wooton & Simms, a well-known law firm, and begins a romantic relationship with his future boss, Nikki Gardner(Rosamund Pike).

At the trial, Crawford acts as his own attorney, which serves as a key vehicle for the plot of the movie-matching up a star prosecutor against a supposedly untrained litigant. Crawford reveals that the arresting officer(Nunally)was having an affair with his wife, assaulted him during his arrest, and was present during his interrogation. Crawford's confession is ruled to be inadmissible as evidence, as it was fruit of the poisonous tree. Beachum discovers that Crawford's handgun was not used to shoot his wife because it had never been fired and did not match the shell casings at the crime scene. As the house was under surveillance the entire time from the shooting to Crawford's arrest the police are baffled.

Beachum is tempted by Nunally's scheme to plant false evidence to implicate Crawford but decides against it at the last minute. With no new evidence to present to the jury, Beachum is forced to concede the trial, and Crawford is acquitted. The disgraced Nunally commits suicide with his own gun outside the courtroom.

Beachum's future with the prestigious firm is in tatters. With the case closed, he obsessively continues to search for evidence, repeatedly visiting the comatose Jennifer in the hospital, hoping that she will wake up. However, at Crawford's request, a restraining order is issued forbidding Beachum to visit the patient. Realizing that Crawford's plan is to dispose of the only eyewitness to the crime, Beachum goes to great lengths to get a court order to keep Jennifer on life support. Nikki Gardner refuses to help him, and they end their relationship. In a last-ditch effort, Beachum is able to get a court order from Nikki's father, who is a judge. Beachum arrives at the hospital just as staff are turning off Jennifer's life support, and despite announcing he is carrying a court order, security prevent him from entering and Jennifer dies.

A mix-up of cell phones causes Beachum to realize that both Nunally and Crawford used the same type of gun. He figures out that before the crime Crawford switched his gun with Nunally's in a hotel room where Jennifer and Nunally secretly met. Crawford shot his wife with Nunally's gun, whereupon the detective arrived on the scene carrying Crawford's gun. While Nunally lingered over Jennifer, trying to revive her, Crawford reloaded Nunally's gun and placed it back where Nunally had left it, while at the same time taking back his original, unused gun. Distracted by the sight of Jennifer's body, Nunally did not notice the guns being switched back. When Crawford appears back in the room brandishing his original gun, Nunally tackles and assaults him before he is arrested, at which point Nunally unwittingly holsters his own gun, the murder weapon, and lets Crawford's unused one be taken as evidence,

Beachum confronts Crawford with his new evidence. Since she died, the bullet lodged in Jennifer's head can now be retrieved and matched with Nunally's gun. Beachum tricks Crawford into confessing, knowing that Crawford thinks he is protected under the double jeopardy clause. However, Beachum reveals that by allowing his wife to die, Crawford can now be prosecuted for murder, having previously been tried merely for attempted murder If he had not taken Jennifer off life support he could have been protected by the double jeopardy clause. Crawford is arrested by the waiting police,

The film ends with a new trial about to begin, with Beachum prosecuting and Crawford surrounded by defence attorneys from Wooton & Simms.

特德·克勞福德(安東尼·霍普金斯飾)，洛杉肌一個(gè)富有的、才華橫溢的愛爾蘭航空工程師，發(fā)現(xiàn)他的妻子詹妮弗·克勞福德(安貝斯·大衛(wèi)德茲飾)和探長羅伯特·那拉里(比利·伯克飾)有了外遇。和他的妻子見面后，克勞福德朝她開了槍，嚴(yán)重打傷了她。并當(dāng)場(chǎng)馬上向那拉里承認(rèn)了自己的罪行。

然后，他和后起之秀，公訴檢察官威廉·威利·比奇姆(瑞恩·高斯林飾)，進(jìn)行了較量。比奇姆認(rèn)為這是一個(gè)很簡單、很明顯的案子，同意立即審判。他很忙，正準(zhǔn)備從刑法公訴律師換到Wooton & Simms公司(一家著名的律師事務(wù)所)做律師，并且和他未來的老板尼基·加德納(羅莎蒙德·派克飾)開始了一段浪漫的戀情。

庭審中，克勞福德?lián)巫约旱霓q護(hù)律師，把一個(gè)沒受過專業(yè)訓(xùn)練的訴訟當(dāng)事人與一個(gè)明星檢察官相對(duì)，這也是電影劇情的關(guān)鍵點(diǎn)?？藙诟５陆野l(fā)執(zhí)行逮捕的警官(那拉里)和他的妻子有外遇，被捕期間毆打了他，還出席了審訊。按規(guī)定，克勞福德的言辭不可以當(dāng)作證據(jù)，因?yàn)樗?ldquo;毒樹之果”。比奇姆發(fā)現(xiàn)，克勞福德的手槍并未用來射擊過他的妻子。因?yàn)樗鼜奈撮_過火，并且和犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)的彈殼也不匹配。讓警方不解的是，從克勞福德開槍到他被捕的整個(gè)期間，房子一直處于被監(jiān)視狀態(tài)。

比奇姆受到了那拉里計(jì)劃的誘惑，他想移植假證據(jù)指控克勞福德，但在最后一刻比奇姆還是決定放棄。由于沒能向陪審團(tuán)提出新的證據(jù)，比奇姆不得不讓步，克勞福德被宣判無罪。那拉里用他自己的槍在法庭外蒙羞自殺。

比奇姆進(jìn)入知名公司的未來已經(jīng)支離破碎。雖已結(jié)案，但他仍繼續(xù)執(zhí)迷于尋找證據(jù)，并不斷地到醫(yī)院看望昏迷的詹妮弗，希望她會(huì)醒來。然而，克勞福德請(qǐng)求了一張限制令，禁止比奇姆再去探望病人。意識(shí)到克勞福德想要處理掉犯罪現(xiàn)場(chǎng)唯一的目擊證人，比奇姆費(fèi)盡心機(jī)請(qǐng)求法院下令保持詹妮弗的呼吸機(jī)正常工作。尼基·加德納拒絕幫助他，終結(jié)了他們的關(guān)系。通過最后的努力，比奇姆從尼基的父親那里得到了法院的命令，他是個(gè)法官。比奇姆趕到醫(yī)院時(shí)，醫(yī)護(hù)人員正在拿掉詹妮弗的呼吸機(jī)，盡管他宣布自己帶來了法院的執(zhí)行令，但還是被保安攔在外面，詹妮弗死了。

一次錯(cuò)拿別人手機(jī)使比奇姆聯(lián)想到，那拉里和克勞福德使用的是相同類型的手槍。于是推理出，是在詹妮弗和那拉里秘密約會(huì)的酒店房間里，克勞福德把他和那拉里的槍進(jìn)行了交換?？藙诟５掠媚抢锏臉屔鋼袅怂钠拮印ｋS后探長帶著克勞福德的槍趕到了現(xiàn)場(chǎng)。在那拉里仔細(xì)思考試圖挽救詹妮弗生命的時(shí)候，克勞福德重新把那拉里的槍放回了他放槍的地方，與此同時(shí)取回了自己原來的、未使用過的槍。看到受傷的詹妮弗，讓那拉里分了心，他并沒有注意到槍被換了回來。當(dāng)克勞福德在房間里重新?lián)]舞著他自己原來的那把槍時(shí)，那拉里阻止并攻擊了他，然后逮捕了他，當(dāng)時(shí)那拉里沒有查看自己的槍，也就是那把犯罪兇器，讓克勞福德那把未使用過的槍成了證據(jù)。

比奇姆用他的新證據(jù)和克勞福德當(dāng)面對(duì)質(zhì)。詹妮弗死后，射入她頭部的子彈可以取出并與那拉里的槍匹配?？藙诟５抡`以為他有犯罪雙重條款的保護(hù)，于是承認(rèn)了比奇姆的推測(cè)。然而，比奇姆透露，由于他任由妻子死去，克勞福德現(xiàn)在可以被控謀殺，因?yàn)橹坝捎谥\殺未遂已被審判。如果他沒有拿掉詹妮弗的呼吸機(jī)，他可能會(huì)受到雙重條款的保護(hù)。克勞福德被等在外面的警察逮捕了。

電影結(jié)束時(shí)，新的審判即將開始，比奇姆在控告，圍在克勞福德身邊的是來自Wooton & Simms的辯護(hù)律師。