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A structural engineer (Anthony
Hopkins) and an ambitious young district attorney (Ryan Gosling) become locked
in a deadly battle of wits when the former is found innocent in the attempted
murder of his wife. Ted Crawford (Hopkins) is an engineer who lives with his
wife Jennifer (Embeth Davidtz) in the couple's lavish Southern California home.
One day, after carefully planning out the details to ensure that there is no way
he can be convicted of murder, Ted shoots his wife in a blatant attempt to
murder the woman. When head hostage negotiator Rob Nunnaly (Billy Burke) arrives
on the scene to speak with Ted, he is shocked to find that the victim of the
shooting is in fact his longtime lover. Willy Beachum reluctantly accepts the
case. Though the D.A. (David Strathairn) vehemently resents Beachum's lofty plan
for departure, the hotshot young lawyer remains convinced that he can expedite
the apparently open-and-shut case. Fracture mechanics specialist Ted chooses to
represent himself at the trial knowing well that a career spent spotting
structural flaws in aeronautical systems has instilled him with just the kind of
argumentative skills needed to riddle the swaggering young lawyer's "foolproof"
case with doubt.
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