Zodiac: The Murders Were Infamous. But This Is The Real Story (Zodiac (DVD))

Name: hollerme

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Product:	Zodiac (DVD)
Date:	25/05/07 (198 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Authentic, fantastic performances, excellent story, suspenseful scenes, great visually

Disadvantages: None that I can think of

The preceding trailers sums up why the movie is misunderstood.

Zodiac is based on one of America's most notorious serial killers in San Francisco and to this day it has remained unsolved.

It's from the director of Se7en. The preceding trailers were: Hostel: Part II (torture movie), Paradise Lost (horror with lots of torture scenes) and Captivity (torture movie). So what would you expect when seeing this film? A sick, twisted serial killer with a lot of horrifying scenes.

And this is why people might be disappointed. Because this isn't that. It's a whodunnit, that you, the viewer, get to solve along with the characters. The horrifying violence is all in the first act of the movie, but the rest is about piecing together the puzzle and finding the killer. In that respect, Zodiac is more '12 Angry Men' than 'Saw'.

Now that you know this I would like to say that Zodiac is a masterpiece.

I watched it on Thursday the 24th May (late night showing) and though most of the screens were flooded with people watching Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End, the screening for Zodiac was surprisingly filled. People there were mostly teens and young adults with a large proportions of thirtysomethings and a few elderly people too. Yet by the end of the film everyone seemed to love this movie. At a length of 3 hours where the film isn't a gore-movie, saying this means a lot. For we are talking about most of the demographics being in that audience and not ONE person left the cinema during the showing. They were just as hooked as I was in finding out who the killer was and worried about the characters getting hurt.

David Fincher, a man who has not made a single movie since 2002's 'Panic Room', has matured as a director yet knows how to keep the visual flair while telling the story.

While directors like Sidney Lumet (Network) have made movies that mean a lot, they have forgotten about film being a visual medium and the shots are not as well thought out as they used to be. But Fincher has created an atmospheric movie that makes you feel like you are in '60s San Francisco (as is evidenced from the first shot when the old Warner Bros. logo is used as opposed to the new one). He has done meticulous research on making this movie (they checked every case study file and did so much work that they revealed overlooked clue the detectives had missed.. such is the passion of Fincher's research into this film) and it pays off with a film that checks the case on every single angle and doesn't give us a deus ex machina. Fincher was a child living in San Francisco when the Zodiac killer was committing his crimes, so it is obvious that this movie is one that is very close to his heart and he doesn't want to make something mediocre, but rather a film that makes us feel like he did when he was there.

Fincher has also always used visual effects fantastically (Fight Club and Panic Room are proof of this) and he has not changed here with two brilliant scenes: the detectives walking across the office while letters and symbols come popping around the room; and the creation of a building to show that the year has gone by... bring the most prominent. He has also chosen the right songs to evoke the feel and mood of the scene and the entire movie (with a clever use of Donovan's Hurdy Gurdy Man which plays to show us being sent right back to the beginning).

So seeing in that film made me feel like I was living in that era.

The violence itself is horrific and exceptionally tense. If you were in suspense during Se7en, you will be jumping or squirming (but always moving) in your scene during the Zodiac scenes. Fincher knows how to craft suspense and he cranks it to the max here and always gives you an unsettling feeling during the film that something bad is about to come.

And what of the actors? With a talented cast that includes Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo, you can tell that the performances will be great. But these aren't just great; these are superb.

The acting done here is powerful and makes us feel for these characters and the way they act. Mark Ruffalo's voice is so different to how he is in real life. He's not just putting on an accent, he's made himself sound like the person he's playing, the Detective Dave Toschi, and we can see the case get to him and his partner (played by Anthony Edwards from 'ER') with just his facial expressions. He becomes more and more obsessed with the killer to the point that, as one character (Dermot Mulroney) puts it: Do you think he's the killer because you genuinely think he is, or do you think he's the killer because you want the case to end?' And that sums up everything about him.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays obsessed really well, and since he is the main protagonist we follow his story as he becomes more and more obsessed with the Zodiac killer to the point that is strains the relationship with his wife, Chloe Sevigny, and their kids and even puts them in jeopardy.

Robert Downey, Jr. reminds me a little of Eddie Murphy in Dreamgirls. The funniest character in the movie (his hate-hate relationship with Dave Toschi is pure genius), his character is both loveable and tragic as we see his life get destroyed thanks to his ego and love for booze.

And the other actors are all familiar faces but given enough screentime to flesh them out and make them almost as important as the main characters themselves.

We have the cop Elias Koteas (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Thin Red Line and Shooter), Brian Cox, the guard from Prison Break (as a Zodiac suspect), Nicolas Cage's friend in Ghost Rider... all popping into scenes but bringing their own character traits to make them memorable.


But what is most surprising about this film is that, although dealing with a serial killer and the people who tried to find him, we also have a lot of comedy and humor that works well in this movie.

Most of the humor comes from Robert Downey Jr. but it also comes from food; the drink Jake Gyllenhaal loves, Ruffalo's obsession with animal crackers, the way Gyllenhaal acts when he thinks he's unsafe... It all makes you laugh.

And there are tender scenes too, as is shown from the relationship between the two detectives (the 'Happy Birthdays', the final scene between the two, et al).

So we have a three hour film that looks fantastic visually, has great performances, a brilliant script, and well-executed suspense scenes. But what good is that if the film doesn't have an end? Well, here is some good news: By the end of the film we are given an idea of who the killer really is, but it's left up to us to decide if we want to believe it or not.

An entertaining movie with an excellent story, Zodiac is a must-see film. So if you've still got time to watch a movie and you've already watched the blockbusters of the year, then please consider this film. You will not be disappointed.

Summary: The most researched serial killer movie ever, only one word can sum it up: MASTERPIECE.