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Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop  ZODIAC - Few Killers have played the media like The Zodiac. All those cryptic proclamations and pages full of ciphers must've seemed like something from a movie in the first place. If mysterious true crime is always magnetic, David Fincher's 'Zodiac' shows there's a price to be paid by those who get wrapped up in that stuff. It's probably my favourite of his films to date - I like the way it uses the case not as the springboard for a semi-slasher style enterprise a la 'Se7en', nor even a procedural as such, but to frame a slow trawl through the damage inflicted by obsession. The three principal characters - cartoonist Jake Gyllenhal, journo Robert Downey JR and tec Mark Ruffalo - are laser-focussed on outwitting Zodiac and getting to the bottom of the case. But the case is bottomless, and rather than uniting in the manner of the heroes of a slightly unorthodox buddy cop thriller, all three men fall into despair and ruin, collateral victims of the forever unknown. Beyond all the talk (it's very dialogue-heavy), Fincher's stylistics conjure an air of descent and slowly simmering dread as the film arcs through the shifting seasons. |
Excellent review, Frankie.
Zodiac is one of my favourite David Fincher films as well, probably the most mature film he had made at that time, and one that has stood up to many viewings over the years, on DVD and Blu-ray, and both the theatrical and director's cut.
Like you say, it's a film about obsession and the three main actors (Gyllenhaal, Ruffalo, and Downey Jr) are superb, utterly convincing. They are helped by a fine script and brilliant work by the art department as everything from the costumes to the hair and make-up, from the production design to the visual effects, all re-create the period perfectly. Fincher is a director who seems to revel in the look of his films as everything he's made has a great sense of style, whether it's worldbuilding (Alien 3), an urban nightmare (Se7en), or evoking a state of hyper-reality (Fight Club).
It does reward time and attention, and you probably get out of the film what you put into it - if you are distracted or sleepy, it wouldn't be as engaging or disturbing as it would be if watching it with your complete focus and without any distractions.