***SPOILERS*** After surviving a shooting at their local diner the survivors of that massacre have their lives shattered beyond repair. We get to see the movie in a number of flashbacks or fragments in exactly what happened during the shooting and how the shooting effected the lives of those who survived it as well as their loved one's and family members. We soon see that the sweet and pretty waitress at the diner single mom Carla Davenport, Kate Beckinsale, turned into a man chasing bimbo who by neglecting her six month old son whom she took along with her, in her car, to sleazy bars and pick-up joints almost ended up dying from dehydration!Dr. Bruce Lamby, Guy Pearce, who dropped into the diner to get a cup of coffee before work at the hospital and left before the shooting started held himself responsible for the massacre in him opening the door for the killer, Marty McGuire, who moments later shot up the place! Dr. Lamby also turned out to be Clara's doctor who was attending her baby's eating problems for free, since she didn't have any medical insurance, and almost blotched it up with problems he had back at home. In with his wife Joan, Embath Davidtz, who's suffering from migraine headaches that Dr. Lamby started to slip strong medication into her food in order to cure her. This with him upping the doges almost ended up killing her instead!There's also teenagers Anne Hagen & Jimmy Jasperson, Dakota Fanning & Josh Hutcherson, who by a stroke of luck or heroism survived the killings where Jimmy's dad Bob Jasperson, Jackie Earl Haley, ended up together with the gunman, who shot himself, getting his brains blown out! It was Jimmy who completely freaked out and became mute in what he saw in not only his dad getting shot but in the cowardly way he reacted to it! Anne for her part became very religious after the incident and forgave the dead gunman for what he did but at the same time covered up the cowardly way how Jimmy's dad reacted before he was blown away! This more then anything else made Jimmy's depression worse then it already was. And it was Anne in her finally admitting the truth of what happened that brought Jimmy out of his deep depression as well as him getting his voice back.Finally there's the real hero in the movie the sad sack compulsive gambler and cancer ridden driving school instructor Charlie Archenault, Forrest Whitiker. It's Charlie who felt by surviving the shooting, where he was wounded, that luck was on his side! Driving down to a Las Vages casino Charlie's luck proved to be genuine with him winning on the crap tables a cool 100 G's before the evening was over. ***SPOILERS*** But in the end Charlie blew it all and had to get a marker, 25 G's, from the mob to continue in trying to get his money back only, so it seemed, to lose it all and having his right hand and arm broken for his failed efforts. We later find out that Charlie in fact did make a big score big enough to pay off his debt to the mob and have plenty left for himself! But,in him feeling guilty in surviving the massacre, he decide to willingly have his arm hand broken instead! Great performances by all involved but it's Forrest Whitaker's kind and sensitive portrayal of born loser Charlie Archenault that really stands out. It was Charlie who was the true hero in the movie by trying to tackle the gunman and getting shot for doing it. But he prevented him from gunning down more people including Anne & Jimmy as well as Kate in his selfless and almost suicidal effort! And in the end despite doing everything he could to destroy himself, in him feeling that he's dying from cancer anyway, it was an act of faith or God that somehow miraculously prevented that from happening to him!

Five strangers each react in different ways to witnessing a random killing spree in a diner: a young girl (Dakota Fanning) gets religion; a cancer-stricken driving instructor (Forest Whitaker) goes on a gambling spree; a waitress (Kate Beckinsale) seeks human intimacy – first with the doctor (Guy Pearce) who unknowingly opened the diner door to allow the killer entry, and then from anyone who's interested; the aforementioned doctor starts administering small doses of migraine-inducing medication to his wife so that he can then cure her; a young boy (Josh Hutcherson) becomes withdrawn and refuses to speak.The study of the fallout from the kind of random act of violence that totally negates every perception and viewpoint you had of the world and your place within it can hardly fail to be absorbing, but the very nature of its subject means it can't avoid becoming something of a depress-fest. There's no deep inhalation of sweet air followed by a 'seize the day' embrace of life here. Without exception, each character embarks on a potentially self-destructive path that becomes almost overwhelming after a while.On the plus side, the film declines to delve too deeply into exactly why the people react the way they do (apart from the young girl who comes over all religious and her mostly mute companion), leaving it to the audience to decipher the clues provided by the characters' behaviour. It's not exactly a difficult job to understand their emotions, but in an age in which many filmmakers feel obliged to cater to the lowest common denominator it's refreshing not to have every aspect of a story spoon-fed to you.

There are quite a few very good actors in the movie and everyone in it delivers a stellar performance. The story is intriguing enough to hold your attention and be entertaining at the same time. But as another reviewer also stated, it does have a few flaws, that might actually let the movie down for you.First of all, you shouldn't start comparing it to "Crash" or other movies (especially because it most likely is only the same as those movies mood-wise), but take it for what it is. Of course many different actors means many different stories to tell. Therefor leaving a few stories with less focus than the other (at least that might be the way you absorb and feel the movie).Still, if Drama is your cup (of tea/coffee), than go ahead and give it a try. You can't go completely wrong with that I'd say

Sometime in the 90's a whole genre of movies got started, where lives intertwine at random, or through some apparent greater purpose. Most such films have struck me as contrived (e.g. "Magnolia") but "Fragments" really pulled off the concept.The level of tension was high throughout and there was literally never a dull moment, which for me marks a great film. The uneasiness and queasiness it generated was at times tough to handle.It puzzled me why they would have alternately titled it "Winged Creatures," then I looked up the book, saw the cover and recognized an angle that was hinted at but never explained in the film.It also wasn't fully clear what the doctor's agenda was, or the final stakes of the gambler. Maybe the vague parts were intentional, but I suspect the book covers a lot more detail.Either way, I don't understand the negative reviews from some people, since this film was far from dull in its own right. Just checking out Kate Beckinsale is enough of a reason to watch this.