Has my opinion on 'Fracture' changed? Well - not really
The more you think about 'Fracture' the more bland you feel it was. I feel its more bland now than when I watched it last week.The film is being advertised as a cat and mouse game but there isnt much game being played in the film. Its mostly Ryan trying to convict Hopkins....what should have happened was that Hopkins should have gotten out of jail earlier in the film, much earlier and the rest of the film would show Hopkins trying his best to keep Ryan down and Ryan trying to outsmart Hopkins - most of the film should have consisted of scenes between these two characters, it would have been a much much better film, more exciting too because they were being played by compelling actors.
I think Hopkins was more or less wasted...the few appearances he had were fun and the work of the master that he is however because his character was not given enough screentime - Tony did not get a chance to really flesh out a memorable character. Ted was the kindof character that should have slowly developed as the movie progressed - yet we know nothing about him and don't care to know anything about Ted. Is that good writing? In "The Silence of the Lambs", "Proof" - despite the little screentime - those characters were so well written that you learn alot about them through Hopkins' performance and want to know more, they were fascinating characters. Hopkins can only do so much.
This case is closed...
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People are so silly! Tony hasn't retired, why do people keep saying that with 'Fracture' - Hopkins' is back? Tony never left, LOL! He had three releases last year and one in 2005. For the past year, I keep reading articles that say Tony is thinking about retirement, is in retirement or is in 'semi-retirement' Like, seriously...enough already! And I also hated how some articles on Fracture mentioned that Tony is "GREAT AGAIN"...PLEASE! What the heck was "The Worlds Fastest Indian then"??! Hes really good in 'Fracture' but in 'Indian' hes truly stunning! So, sad how few people have seen 'Indian'! They can then realize why hes one of the greatest actors alive, stuff like 'Fracture' only give us glimpses of that greatness (No thanks to the screen writers!), in 'Indian' we see the master in full form and like never before.
Fracture - An Observation by Sabzi (A Sir Anthony Aficionado )
So, I watched Sir Hoppy's new movie 'Fracture', I went in with not so high expections but not so low expectations either, I knew what I was going to get out the film and I got that - A stylish, thoughtful, old-fashioned 'how did he get away with it' film. Ofcourse, needless to say - it was well-acted, considering two of the best actors in Hollywood are in this film, Sir Hoppy and Little Gosling. The question is not of who gave the better performance, the question is - who was more handsome? ahhh...that is a difficult choice, lets just say - Sabzi was quite pleased with every frame of the film considering it had either one of these studmuffins and sometimes a scene had both When a scene had both, my attention mostly would be on Sir Hoppy and his marvelous wrinkles, those cold eyes, that voice, the hair, the smile, the ...okay, you get the point The man was HOT, oh and how good he looked SHIRTLESS DEAR LORD! AHEM - back to the talking about Little Gosling's scenes with Sir Hoppy. During their scenes together....I LOVED those stares Little Gosling would give Sir Hoppy whenever he decided to say something just a tad bit creepy OOOO, those stares were priceless Needless to day, Little Gosling is quite a match for the old master himself. Speaking of the master, whose performance has been praised by quite a few critics but many have also unfairly dimissed it as another 'Hannibal Lecter'. Having seen the film and carely studied every movement on Sir Hoppy's beautiful face, every sound of his voice and every little hand gesture - I can conclude that such a claim is a bunch of nonsense. Hopkins' Ted is a unique performance which has no resemblance to Lecter. So, those 'luvvies' in my view have their own agendas and that does not include fairly judging an actors performance. Let me ask you, since when is Lecter ADORABLE?? Well, thats how I found Ted in a couple of scenes. He was so cute! He really was! In other scenes, his cold icy blue stares were pretty creepy but Ted was mostly funny, I kinda wanted to hug him which is a werid thing to say considering hes pretty nuts. I can go on and on about how different this performance was from his work as Lecter but I am assuming I made my point - Lecter is never adorable. On to the film itself, its not a classic .... but a good entertainer and I would like to see it again, it has repeat value. Some people thought the film was too boring, well its a slow-paced film...but it wasn't boring for me. The one complaint I had was the love story between Little Gosling and Rosemund Pike. It was useless, that all should have been edited out and perhaps 2 more scenes with Sir Hoppy and Little Gosling added because they were wonderful together. The film would have been much better that way...or maybe nothing should have been added and just those scenes cut out. I do think there wasn't enough of Hopkins, another drawback of the film. I missed him when he wasnt around, not that Little Gosling's performance wasn't as great - just Sir Hoppy was soo much fun and a delight to watch. I just missed him....what can I say? Hes just amazing...you want to see more and more. He could be talking about garbage and I would have been glued to the screen. No...Seriously, I think what it is...is that Gosling is a fine fine actor in a lead role like one he had in 'Half Nelson' and hes fine with co-stars in Ewan Mcgregor like 'Stay', but hes not up to par with Hopkins...so putting him in a movie with Hopkins without both of them having a good amount of scenes is a mistake because Hopkins ends up stealing the show, which happened here. Gosling had much more scenes, and he couldn't hold things together despite giving a fine performance....not his fault at all, its just Hopkins...you know? He was a match for Hopkins in their SCENES TOGETHER but not when Hopkins wasn't around. That wasn't the case in films like Proof, Silence and Howards End...you didn't miss Hopkins despite the little screentime because Emma, Jodie and Paltrow were just as skilled as Sir Anthony. The cinematography was excellent, the background score was beautiful - nice piano tune...It was a well-written script, decent effort. Nothing outstanding but better than most big-budget Hollywood junk these days. The film was more sophisticated than most Hollywood 'thrillers', though I don't think the film was much of a thriller, more of a drama and I liked that, I dont like films with cheap thrills. The film had some good twists and turns, nice surprises. I'm sure there are some people that figured out the surprise ending before the end, well I was too busy drooling so, I didnt figure it out See, I have a good excuse...I'm not dumb or anything. But back to the script, maybe thats why Gosling couldn't hold his own against Hopkins - had the script been better perhaps Gosling would have been more watchable without Hopkins in the scene? Because the central problem presented to Gosling's character is not very compelling, you don't care much honestly about this character's motivations, or that Ted's wife is shot - theres a lack of emotional attachment to the characters and thats never good in any film. You must feel something and honestly, here - you don't care because theres not much character development to begin with. All you do is hope that Sir Anthony will come back and wink or something THAT's never good either, if that's ALL you care about in a film. All in all, I kinda liked it...I'd watch it again despite the flaws.
Happy Birthday Sir Tony!!!!
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In tribute, I present my Favorite Tony moments on film
Titus (1999)I tried with all my might to pick ONE moment from this tour de force of Tony's but I couldn't! I'm only human! So, the entire performance makes my list...hehe! Titus, Titus, Titus...what made this role so great was that Tony had to do everything: tragedy, comedy, anger and horror. He did it all and oh-so-wonderfully. No one can recite Shakespeare like Tony Hopkins. Period. The Remains of the Day (1993)Okay, do I even need to talk about this scene?? LOL! I will say this, that its the finest example of the Psychological Gesture. Oh yea! QB VII (1974)This is such a riveting moment in this mini series, where Dr. Adam Kelno just explodes as hes being questioned for his war crimes against Jewish prisoners in a concentration camp over 30 years before. He yells with rage, "I wasn't doing the experiment"! What evil and humanity this man possesed, he can save anyone from disease and death, as long as that person is not Jewish, WOW. This was the moment where I thought, "Is Tony Hopkins for real"? He had me at the edge of my seat. One Man's War (1991)His son just died, he sees his body, he doesn't believe for a second that this death was an accident, he knows someone in the government did this. He starts taking photographs, very calmly, acts like nothing happened. He notices all the signs of torture on his sons body. Suddenly, he starts to get angry and just breaks down and cries, "they killed my son". It was so MOVING and STUNNING. Amazing performance by Tony! The World's Fastest Indian (2006)The reason I picked this moment is because I just think its one of the finest examples of Tony doing so much by doing nothing. His eyes speak volumes, you actually think this man has never seen so many lights and cars before, this IS Burt Munro. Subtle acting is REAL acting. The Bounty (1984)"Don't you bloody cross me" It soo good!! Gotta love every second of this performance but I rewinded this moment atleast 3 times upon first viewing! Shadowlands (1993)The reason I picked this scene out of all the glorious moments in this film is for two reasons. One, this was the first time I ever witnessed Tony Hopkins cry onscreen and ask anyone who has witnessed this beautiful men shed tears, knows how special this moment is and second reason, I wasn't expecting him to break down like that! It was shocking, Jack Lewis lets go of all his reserves, just everything and accepts his great love for this woman. It was sooo MOVING. Magic (1978)This is the best scene in the film, for me atleast. One of the quieter moments and Tony just shines. His manager asks him, for just 5 minutes not make the dummy talk and he can't do it. He laughs, jokes, sits calmly, moves around a bit but soon enough - he can't control it any longer. Great scene! Instinct (1999)I'm not a fan of this movie, its stupid LOL but I LOVE this scene! Tony is soo awesome in it, damn cool! "Testing, testing 1 2 3"! The Tenth Man (1988)This scene, Jean Louis Chavel finally reveals his identity to the woman he loves, yet it costs him his life but that doesn't matter because all he cares about is saving hers. It was very beautiful and poignant.
