Brilliant legal thriller movie with Ryan Gosling becomes surprise Netflix hit

From the director of Primal Fear, Gosling stars in the film opposite a two-time Oscar-winner.

That film is Fracture, a 2007 movie starring Oscar-nominee Ryan Gosling (Barbie) and Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins (The Silence of the Lambs).

It also features amongst its supporting cast David Strathairn (The Firm), Rosamund Pike (Gone Girl) and Irish actress Fiona Shaw (Killing Eve).

Directed by legal thriller expert Gregory Hoblit (Hart's War, Primal Fear), Fracture sees Gosling play a hotshot prosecutor handed what he at first believes to be an open-and-shut case.

This is because the accused (Hopkins) tried to kill his wife with a gunshot to the head and is defending himself in court.

All hope for a quick and easy trial fly out the door, however, when Hopkins' defendant proves to be a much more cunning and devious adversary than Gosling's lawyer anticipated.

Fracture was a box-office hit upon release and earned solid reviews from critics, with many praising its two leads, its witty script and its twisty story.

And following its recent addition to Irish Netflix, the movie has been given a second life - topping JustWatch’s weekly streaming film chart for the country.

The service’s charts are calculated by its users’ activity from the past seven days.

“This includes clicking on a streaming offer, adding a title to a watchlist, and marking a title as ‘seen’,” JustWatch says.

Fracture beat out for the top spot Wicked Little Letters, Pulp Fiction, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes and The Iron Claw.

You can read a sample of some of the positive reviews Fracture received from critics below:

Associated Press: "Fracture is suspenseful and darkly stylish, but it also has an unexpectedly dry sense of humour. It's actually a lot funnier and a lot less stiff and self-serious than such a thriller might look."

AV Club: "Not since Lecter has a role been this well suited to Hopkins, whose intelligence and pristine formality as an actor often make him seem alien."

San Francisco Chronicle: "Fracture is what audiences want when they go to a suspense thriller: a flashy, colourful villain; a protagonist who's imperfect enough to be interesting; and most of all a story that keeps viewers guessing, while playing fair."

USA Today: "A provocative game that plays out with intelligence and wit."

Variety: "An open-and-shut case becomes an elegantly framed battle of wits in Fracture, an absorbing legal thriller."

Fracture is streaming in Ireland and the UK on Netflix right now.

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