Zodiac Killer (Zodiac (DVD))

Member Name: stevepeto

Product:	Zodiac (DVD)
Date:	29/09/08 (263 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: acting, storyline, production values, visuals/colour palette

Disadvantages: maybe too slow for some

>>> Movie <<<

In 2007, Five years after directing Panic Room David Fincher has picked up the directorship reigns again with a story about a serial Killer. The killer had struck fear into the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960's with his random killings, he was attributed 7 victims, 2 of whom survived, he was known as the Zodiac killer, he was never caught.

The film starts and quickly shows us the attack on the last five victims that the Zodiac killer was attributed. Why Fincher chose to leave out the first victims, David Arthur Faraday, and Betty Lou Jensen I don't know. One reason maybe that the last five people were attacked between July and October 1969 and the first two victims were attacked in December 68, almost a year before and it may have bogged the movie down a little.

Either way it doesn't detract from the film at all. Fincher's handling of these attack scenes is superb. The tension goes through the roof as we sense what is going to happen to our victims and the camera gets in close to the action to see Zodiac do his dirty work. I personally found the attack in the park on the sunny afternoon to be the most gruesome, not only because you rarely associate savage attacks with that time of day but also because the attack was with a knife and the images are fairly graphic, also the fact that knife culture seems to be a way of life at the moment. what really brought this scene to life for me was down to the actors nervous twiddling of his fingers, through to the screams of the actress as Zodiac starts his attack.

But with the attacks over within the first 30 minutes of the film, what happens in the remaining two hours? Well this is where we get to meet our three main characters who get pulled into the case for one reason or another and their attempts to solve the crimes and unmask the Zodiac killer.

The movie initially rotates around three main characters before finally settling on Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) of the San Francisco Chronicle. The first half of the film dedicated mainly to Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and David Toschi (MarkRuffalo).

Avery is the crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle and when the Zodiac sends in ciphers to this newspaper it is his job to investigate the crimes and write up the stories, he goads the killer by calling him a latent homosexual but he never really gets anywhere in getting a break on the case. Downey Jr is superb in his role and he brings a needed humorous element to the film even towards the end of the film when his character is less involved, that said his quips and the way he projects himself here is similar to other films that I have seem him in, and although good in the role I think he was playing it strictly by the numbers, which is kind of backed up in one of the extras when asked about how much research that he had done for the role.

Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) is the San Francisco Inspector who along with partner William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) get involved with the case after the last victim is found within the city limits. Their investigations show us several things. One that there was no real priority placed on finding the Zodiac. Although Toschi and Armstrong were both committed to catching the guy the powers that be didn't give them much manpower to solve the case, even after the Zodiac threatened to target school buses it was only him and his partner on the case, at least that was the way is was portrayed on screen and two that there were real problems in sharing information with the other jurisdictions involved.

Ruffalo is great in this role, and in this reviewers opinion gave the best performance of the three main actors. He reminded me a lot of Peter Falk's Columbo in terms of the way he dresses and even some of his mannerisms, his character seems honest without fault, refusing to discuss open cases with anyone, even when he is accused of writing one of the Zodiac letters, something he denied and something that he was later cleared of. We really feel his sense of frustration as the cranks come out of the woodwork to claim responsibility for the crimes. He does however find a suspect, someone that he fancies as the killer but again failings within the system stop him from moving forward fully with that course of investigation.

Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) is in the movie from the beginning although his role doesn't really come to the fore until about 90 minutes into the feature. Initially he eavesdrops on conversations in the editorial room and steals Paul Averys notes from his waste paper basket. He is fascinated by puzzles and the like and it is this that piques his interest in the case.

Graysmith realised that a lot of the information that was collected on the Zodiac killer was never really collated properly and so made it his mission to collect all of that information that he could in order to have it all written in one place and published so that anyone could look at all the information and potentially come up with a solution, and this is really what the last third of the movie tackles. Looking in on Amazon you can see books by Robery Graysmith pertaining to the Zodiac and indeed it is these books that were used to form the basis for the film. It became an obsession for him, one that drove him away from his loved ones.

Gyllenhaal is good in this role, in the beginning as the cartoonist for the paper and with no one really putting value in his opinions he comes across as quite shy, and then in the later half of the film when he is obsessed with finding all the clues he comes across more as an excited schoolboy, but his deductions are solid enough that on his many visits with Toschi he gains some clues and Toschi is silently convinced that he is onto something.

Don't let the two and a half hour running time put you off, nor the fact that the film covers a timeline of many years, this is a very good, tension filled movie and Fincher does a superb job of keeping us captivated right up to the very end. Of course it is helped by the fact that he has some great actors in the main roles.

But the main question people may ask is "what is the point of watching the film when the case was never solved" but I think it isn't really about finding a resolution and the typical sense at the end of a film but more the journey of how the conclusions were made, of how the general population were failed by different jurisdictions that failed to share information and by the press who succumbed to the whims of a serial killer.

>>> Presentation <<<
The English - Dolby Digital (5.1) is completely adequate for the task, music is clear yet not overpowering and the dialogue through the centre speakers is clear and even throughout. The Widescreen 2.40:1 picture is mostly very good although I felt a little too dark in some places, apart from that the image was superb using brown and green tints throughout, the colour palette seemed authentic for a film set around the 1970's even down to using the old Warner Bros and Paramount logos at the beginning of the film.

>>> Extras <<<
This is Zodiac: 26 minute documentary covering some aspect of the making of the film. I enjoyed this extra, it gave out a few facts about the films which flesh out a couple of ideas I had about it, worth watching.

Zodiac Directors Cut: A advertisement outlining what will be coming in the (as of writing) soon to be released directors cut, it includes commentary, examination of the actual crimes, interviews, and behind the scenes footage.

300: A trailer for this film

Blood Diamond: A trailer for this film

>>> Overall: <<<

A brilliant film, one of Fincher's best and one worthy of a place in your collection if you like police/crime movies. Please note, that there is a 2 disk Directors Cut edition being released later in 2008, I am not so sure that the film would benefit from extra material but the extras on this single disk release could certainly do with a boost. The only thing letting the disk down is the lack of extras, hence a mark of 6 for the disk overall, but if you don't care about the extras and only watch the film then this is a must for your collection.

Summary: one of finchers best so far