Check out Zodiac
So I got to check out the movie Zodiac by David Fincher this weekend at The Crest a local second run theater in Seattle. The movie is about the Zodiac Killer who terrorized the San Fransisco Bay area through the late 60′s to mid 70′s. The movie really breaks into two sections, with the first act being about the actual crimes and the media publicity and the second half is about the obsession of Robert Graysmith, the comic artist at the San Fransisco Chronicle at the time of the killings, and his attempts to figure out who the Zodiac Killer true identity.
The film is a great departure from David Fincher previous body of work. This was just a crime drama, and not the mind twist that Fincher has previously done with The Game and Seven. The attention to detail in the time period is striking and really has a excellent visual style to it without even noticing it. Many aspects are subtle but greatly effective in making the movie quite tense at moments.
The movie also had an excellent cast including Jake Gyllenhaal as Graysmith, Robert Downey Jr. as Paul Avery the crime reporter at the SF Chronicle, and Mark Ruffalo as Inspector David Toschi. All of them give great performances especially Downey Jr, as he always does. Gyllenhall really plays the part of this noble naive eagle scout perfectly. At times you can see the boyhood curiosity in his eyes through the film, which then turns into a downward spiral of obsession losing everything including his marriage and children.
Probably the one major problem with the movie is the length, at almost 2 hours and 40 minutes. It keeps going and going. While it is full of some amazing insight and information and some great story telling through film, it does drag for about the last 30 minutes. There are some spots that really could have fallen on the editing room floor.
Overall it was a great true crime movies. If you are interested in shows like Dominick Dunne’s Power Privliege and Justice, L.A. Confidential, The Black Dahlia, or Summer of Sam, you might want to check out Zodiac when it comes out on DVD in a couple months.
