FRACTURE (USA/Germany-2007 is one of my favorite Anthony Hopkins movies, one in which he's a calculating, cold-blooded killer who plays an elaborate courtroom game with hotshot Asst. DA Ryan Gosling.
Knowing his younger wife is having an affair with a police detective, Hopkins awaits her arrival home and shoots her in the left cheek. The bullet travels through her brain and lodges against the skull, but she doesn't die.
The cop boyfriend arrives to investigate a reported shooting, not realizing who the victim is. Naturally he's upset when he sees his lover lying near death. Hopkins cooly admits to shooting her, has the weapon nearby. At the police station he willingly signs a confession.
Meanwhile, Gosling is a lawyer on the way up. He likes nothing better than to win in court, and his 97% success rate shows he's good at it. After destroying in trial the case of a top-notch defense attorney, Gosling is hired by the loser's law firm, the most prestigious in L.A. He's given his two weeks notice at the DA's office, but has a chance to rack up another courtroom victory before leaving the City's employ, an open-and-shut case of a man who's confessed to the attempted murder of his spouse.
Hopkins takes legal procedures in a most cavalier manner, even acts as his own lawyer. At one point before the trial he offers Gosling a great deal of cash if he will defend him, with a warning that things will become messy if he remains prosecutor. These words of caution go unheeded by the young DA who has, in his mind, already moved on to a new career with that big money firm. Besides, this case is a slam dunk, right? He's got the weapon, a verbal confession and a signed one. The trial will be over before it starts.... or will it?