ZODIAC

I finally saw ZODIAC and I have to say, it is an excellent police procedural type of thriller. If you're looking for mindless entertainment, then I can see how you'd find it boring, perhaps. But I was riveted to the screen the entire time. Wonderful performances by Robert Downey Jr and Jake Gylenhall. The actor who played the main cop on the case, David, did a great job. I didn't catch the actor's name.

The movie is a lot of things, more so than your typical, straightforward serial killer thriller. And of course, that is precisely its saving grace. Everyone who was bored with it, what did you want? Just more of the same? I, for one, was quite grateful that Fincher understood that in telling the story of the Zodiac killer, he was bound to have to focus on a much wider palette than just a killer thriller.

ZODIAC is as much about the media as it is anything else. And the way it interacts with police investigations. It is about the maddening, labyrinthine relationship the law has with the media, and the relationships between real people and the results of these interactions. In choosing to focus on the Zodiac killings, director David Fincher has succeeded in dissecting the unfolding society of the late 60s in the San Francisco area and allowing us to watch it evolve into the slow modernization of the early 70s. We get an unprecedented opportunity to watch the real priorities organize themselves when it comes to the law attempting to apprehend a killer at large.

There are several noteworthy sequences of Fincher's trademark brilliance in cinematography and camera work. The set pieces are so convincing, especially the opening sequence on the Fourth of July, 68 or so, wherein one long leftwards panning shot takes in a few blocks of a suburban neighborhood, with the fireworks exploding in the background, which is a beautiful example of this camera work. He really takes us back in time, and that is one of the strong points of this movie.

ZODIAC is an ambitious film in its simple objective to tell the story of those killings from the perspective of the political cartoonist, played perfectly by Jake Gylenhall, the guy who was so obsessed with the case, that he applied his Eagle Scout sincerity in attempting to solve what the police somehow couldn't.

An utterly absorbing film packed to the gills with real, crucial performances by a host of talented actors. Its ability to thread together the information pertinent to this case and present it all in just 2 and a half hours is truly a creative achievement that I hope gets recognized in hollywood. The movie is definitely a return to form for Fincher, whose somewhat lackluster Panic Room didn't do much for myself or critics, other than some fancy camera work effects. On the other hand, Zodiac is more concerned with developing the highly complex network of human interactions behind the scenes of a sensational piece of reporting such as befits that of a serial killer still at large in the streets.

It opens up plenty of byways for us to question in the due process of the law, and what roles do reporters and citizens get to play in the "game" of hunting down a killer at large. In so doing, it exposes a fundamental flaw in our society which seems to somehow trump justice for media exposure or fame, and serves to provide us with a wide angle view of the legal complexities which prevent us from achieving efficiency in our judicial system.

I found it endlessly fascinating, and a welcome addition to our cineplexes. If you enjoy a quite intricate puzzle that demands you use your brain, don't hesitate to see this entertaining, landmark film. On the other hand, if all you want is another SAW movie or something to titillate and terrify, or otherwise offer your mind an escape, avoid the subtle, rewarding complexities of Zodiac, and go see The Number 23 instead. Don't get me wrong. I kinda liked The Number 23, actually. But it ain't no ZODIAC, not by a long shot. We need more thoroughly intelligent films about serial killers like Fincher's ZODIAC.