A great movie, I love it and I absolutely recommend it to everyone who loves mystery and crime stories. We see from the start that Thomas Crawford (Anthony Hopkins), a very wealthy and meticolous man, knows everything about his wife's affair. We watch him while he goes to the hotel where she is swimming in the pool with her lover. Crawford even knows who the man is. Evening comes, his wife comes back home, and he's there waiting for her: he talks to her, tells her that he knows, he shoots her in the face, then does a few preparations while waiting for the police to come.
They don't know what's going on, they think the couple might have been taken hostage or something. Crawford allows in only one person: Lt. Nunally (Billy Burke) the man that was having an affair with his wife! Thing is, Nunally didn't know it, because they had never shared personal information. They called each other Mr and Mrs Smith and didn't know anything more, not even their real names. Nunally is married, but he was in love with her anyway, and when he sees her on the floor in her own blood he looses it and can see only her. Crawford confesses the murder, but for Nunally it's not enough, he wants to be sure he'll pay for it, he wants to be there every step of the way, he wants to be present during the formal interrogation. Crawford signs a confession, then refuses to be represented by a lawyer. The prosecutor is young, ambitious Willy Beachum (Ryan Gosling). He's about to leave to join a big famous law firm where he would make really big money, when his boss Lobruto (David Strathairn) gives him this case. He accepts, thinking it's a done deal, with a double confession, but as soon as Crawford sees him he understands that he's exactly what he needs, that he can fool him as he wants. At the trial, Beachum is not even prepared as he should be, because he doesn't think it necessary and because he's all taken by the new position he's going to get. When the trial falls down, he can hardly believe Crawford played him like that. Now he takes an interest, visits the woman at the hospital where it seems like she's never going to wake up because there is brain damage. He can't think of anything else, but it would appear that Crawford outsmarted him. Crawford saw his weakness: the arrogance, the ambition, but Crawford too has a weakness: his hate and his belief that nobody is smart enough for him. Oh it's a great movie. I'm not a fan of Gosling, and to be completely honest I'm not too big a fan of Hopkins either ( I was, but that's because he comes out better in italian), but they're okay for the roles. I like Strathairn a lot, but he has a small role here, although important. Rosamund Pike is Nikki from the big firm, who has taken a personal interest in him, who knows why, but she's there only to serve as a mirror, to show what he wanted to be, what he did for that. She's also there to introduce the character of her father, a judge (Bob Gunton) who will have a small role in the events. I liked Fiona Shaw as the judge in Crawford's trial, and I liked to see Joe Spano in the very small role of another judge. I know him from Ncis where he's Fornell :-)
This is one of the rare cases where the actors are not important. The story, how it's made, the screenplay: that's what is great here. I'm sure I would have liked it with different actors too, maybe even more ...
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