Anyone else hoping for Crawford to triumph?

I didn't want Crawford to win either. I thought the wife had obviously tried to talk to him about getting out of the marriage and he didn't want to. He came across as a cold-hearted bastard. I certainly didn't think of her as a whore; I thought she was desperate to find some happiness away from him. It was clear that Crawford was a psychopath who'd rather kill her than let her go.

As for Gosling's character, he started out as a calculating and somewhat smug individual, but he changed in the course of the film. He suddenly found a drive to put things right and not sell out to the private company. He had compassion for the wife and grew into someone admirable and likeable. I felt like cheering at the end.

Mind you, having said that, I did guess the gun thing extremely early on (even when I saw it at the cinema years ago) and the film stretched credibility that the cops never figured it out and it even took Willy a heck of a long time. I did like the double jeapardy twist, though. My one gripe about the film was Hopkins's wandering accent. At some points, it was Oirish and then he just seemed to forget about it altogether.

{i]Sorry, maybe my moral compass is set at a different place to everyone else here but personally I cheered when the arrogant, smug, multi-billionaire with the apparently disposable trophy wife was finally brought down by the crusading, altruistic public prosecutor who willingly endangers his potential corporate career to fight for justice, but then again, I've never found it that easy to sympathise with murderers, regardless of how 'smug' or 'thuggish' their enemies might be.[/i]

I completely agree with you. There are films where we are supposed to root for the "anti-hero", but this not one of them.

I thought the wife had obviously tried to talk to him about getting out of the marriage and he didn't want to. He came across as a cold-hearted bastard. I certainly didn't think of her as a whore; I thought she was desperate to find some happiness away from him. It was clear that Crawford was a psychopath who'd rather kill her than let her go.

Agreed. I have a problem with anyone labeling the wife a whore and it's clear she wanted out. He knew it. That's why he had her followed to begin with.

I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. They are so unlike your Christ-Gandhi

Sorry, maybe my moral compass is set at a different place to everyone else here but personally I cheered when the arrogant, smug, multi-billionaire with the apparently disposable trophy wife was finally brought down by the crusading, altruistic public prosecutor who willingly endangers his potential corporate career to fight for justice, but then again, I've never found it that easy to sympathise with murderers, regardless of how 'smug' or 'thuggish' their enemies might be.

I agree. Crawford could have divorced her. Murder or revenge through violence is never the answer.

I might be wrong about this, but he told Willy precisely where he planted the bullet. I'm sure that it is quite common for someone to live when they are shot in the head, as opposed to say, the heart where it is instant death. I am an ex-nurse and I have seen a few patients with bullets in the skulls making it, ironically, one of the less likely places to ensure death would be automatic.
So maybe it is possible that he planned for that outcome. Attempted murder is a lot less serious charge than murder. Just going by the number of people on this site alone who were cheering for him because he was being cheated would ensure at least a partially sympathetic jury.
No, he wanted them dead, on his own controlling terms. A man like that is very used to having his own way.

At the beginning of this I wanted the lawyer to lose more than anything because he was such a horrible, smug, irritating bastard. Toward the end I was hoping he'd win, though; I thought he really developed as a character and it became obvious how utterly evil Mr Hopkins character actually was.