I gave this a rating of 9 stars.<br /><br />I watched this film primarily because I believed Anthony Hopkins was going to star in it; instead, I would call Mr. Hopkins role more of a supporting costar.<br /><br />The film would have earned a 10 from me if it had featured Anthony Hopkins more. I found the Willy Beachum character and the actor playing him rather boring. Ryan Gosling who plays Willy Beachum, struck me as being a cross between Woody Harrelson and Pee-wee Herman, and quite frankly he could not hold a candle to Anthony Hopkins skills and talent as an actor.<br /><br />The interesting parts of the film are when Hopkins' character, Ted Crawford, is in the scene or it is about him.<br /><br />We do have some filler with Willy and his ambitions to work for a prestigious law firm, (he is currently a prosecutor in the D.A.'s office) and his love interest Nikki Gardner (Rosamund Pike), who, quite frankly, looked a little too old for him.<br /><br />Nikki was Willy's new boss in the prestigious law firm--yet we have scenes where she is supposed to have gone to bat for him with someone in the law firm, so obviously she did not have total and final say.<br /><br />The interesting part of the film has to do with Ted Crawford having shot his cheating wife and the very clever plan he has for getting away with it.