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Capone says ZODIAC might be the greatest procedural crime drama in modern film history!
Zodiac
Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with that's going to stay with me for many months to come. The idea of director David Fincher re-entering the world of serial killers is exciting, and an easy concept to market. "From the director of Seven…" is the phrase that much of the publicity for Zodiac is built around. And while it's a very logical way to get butts in seats, it's about as misleading a campaign strategy as you're likely to face when it comes to film marketing. And I'll be the first to admit, Fincher tackling the complicated and troubling California case of the Zodiac killer is something worth getting excited and eager about, but those of you expecting wildly imaginative murder set pieces, haunting lighting design and a satisfying Hollywood ending are going to come out of this film more than a little annoyed. Instead, Fincher (with screenwriter James Vanderbilt, adapting the source material by Robert Graysmith) has made what might be the greatest procedural crime drama in modern film history.
There have been many great police dramas since, but I have to go back to Kurosawa's iconic High and Low to think of a detective piece that affected me quite the way Zodiac did. I love the film as much for what it doesn't do as I do for it's great accomplishments. Fincher has spent his entire career establishing himself as a filmmaker with a highly stylized visual style and great sense of pacing. But with Zodiac he's unlearned almost every trace of his cinematic legacy. His films have always done a great job of creating strong characters, but he's never dug into the minds of his characters like he does here. And not just one or two, but dozens.
Everyone who got close to this case suffered greatly, including Graysmith (played here with a beautiful fragility by Jake Gyllenhaal), a political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle, who got sucked into the Zodiac case through his friendship with crime reporter Paul Avery (both men received direct or indirect threats from the Zodiac killer at various times over the many years this case stayed active). Just when you think Robert Downey Jr. (who plays the razor sharp and witty Avery) has nothing more to show us, he pulls a performance like this one out just to show us he's still king. The two men weren't exactly friends, but Avery used Graysmith's love of puzzles and solving code to his advantage. But as the film goes on, Avery (like so many others) becomes so obsessed with the case that the rest of his life falls to the wayside and eventually implodes. We believe Graysmith's gentler nature will keep him pure as he decides to research the case for a book, but his fall is almost more tragic as he and his wife (played by Chloe Sevigny) and kids drift apart.
But the newspaper connection to the Zodiac killer (who sent many letters to the San Francisco media) is only half of what this film covers. The police investigation, led by inspectors David Toschi (the always reliable Mark Ruffalo) and William Armstrong (a really nice turn from Anthony Edwards), is certainly drier than the Graysmith/Avery storyline, but it's no less compelling. Imagine if finding this sly murdering bastard was your full-time job. This film follows the police down seemingly every dead end. More than once, you can almost smell that a suspect is guilty, but some small piece of evidence doesn't quite add up. In our age where crime databases, evidence and fingerprint records are a keyboard stroke away, watching these investigators circa the 1970s attempt to share cases of information across multiple jurisdictions is unbearable. Fincher captures this frustration to perfection, as small but important bits of evidence get lost or go unshared in the chaos.
And while we do see some of the Zodiac killer's handiwork throughout the film, this is not a movie about a serial murderer's grisly ways. Zodiac is a film about those who seek the truth. This isn't even a film about getting justice or revenge (the victim's families are given virtually no screen time). Instead, Fincher has crafted a film about obsession and the search, about the tiniest bit of information meaning so much to so many even though it leads them nowhere. And while the film ultimately does point the finger pretty clearly at a particular person as the most likely killer, it is the not knowing that motivates everyone in this story. I could spend an entire paragraph of this review discussing how almost every role in Zodiac is played by a familiar face, but that isn't really the point. This movie boils police work and investigative journalism down to their essential (and, yes, sometimes deadly dull) cores. The whole piece feels authentic, right down to the saltshakers on Graysmith's kitchen table, but this is much more than a history lesson. This is a slice-of-life profile of a terrified California, and it's several insightful character studies rolled into a near-perfect film. Fincher's visual stamp isn't entirely absent from the proceedings, but he makes the complicated and chaotic story the heart of this, his best, film.
Capone
Mail Me Bitch!
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..sounds a little ponderous...(first)
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i loved se7en, but just seeing the trailer and clips i wasn't ever expecting it to mirror that film... or fight club. i'm glad that this movie's about the detectives and other investigators rather than a similarly romanticized version of a brilliant serial killer. i heard fincher and the filmmakers went to great lengths looking at the investigations and just putting the things they believed in... which is cool. can't wait to see it.
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.. I don't seek another Se7en.. I simply seek a great movie from a great director. Looks like we may have one. Tell me my dear Mr Capone, is it Oscar material (since we are just out of the awards season)? Or is it (literally) too early to say? Hail!
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... nice review Mr Capone!
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That a genuine serial killer has such a big budget movie made about him? I wonder what family members of those killed by this loser feel about it?
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it isn't like he's making money off of this film... and it's not praising or romanticizing his actions. as this review states it's mostly about a unwinding road down obsession and trying to find a killer who isn't even particularly clever.
the fact they went through the investigation themselves and studied it... well, it seems like it'd be a good informative piece for those not familiar or well-versed in the case. i know little of the case myself and am looking forward to learning a bit about it from the film. of course i don't usually watch many movies for factual tidbits or take movies as truth =) -
He's gonna catch the 10pm showing of this in Eureka tonight, if anyone wants to join.
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I'm from britain and I've never heard of the Zodiac killer. These hollywood types really need to make more films about the stuff I've heard of. Like maybe a film about the queen, or adapt a book by a great british writer like jane austen. Swines.
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Great perfomances. Great script. Great use of suspense. Great directing. Everything I expected.
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Must be tough for the families if it is real though. Could they get some sort of catharsis from this?
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It was a good movie, but that's about it. I don't understand all the hysteria.
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in my life. I'm not even kidding. Is it as good as Fight Club, maybe not, but the two are really hard to compare as they deal with completely different topics, and it's a little unfair as Palahniuk's dialogue is just wonderful (even still, Zodiac does have great dialogue). So, it makes more sense to compare this to Se7en. Is it better than Se7en? Quite possibly. Arguably the story isn't as strong here, and Se7evn's ending is fantastic, but I feel this is a much better made movie. The acting is great from everyone, and Gyllenhall's subtle slip into obsession is wonderful. I loved Eckhart in The Black Dahlia, but his slip into preoccupation happened far too quickly and out of nowhere (not completely, but still), and Gyllenhall does a great job. The music used is great, and the movie starts out great, and the second half may be a little less exciting, but in the story of the Zodiac, everyone's resistance is worn down at this point (except Graysmith's), so it makes sense, and perhaps that is reaching, but I'm sticking to it. The low-key lighting, shot of the bridge, and much more also wonderfully mirror the theme of "being lost". There is so, so much that is great about this movie, and I'm sure some people may not like it (a gir lbehind me said "That was the worst movie I've seen in my life"), but obviously, it won me over. The only minor problem I had is the text epilogue, but how else could you have ended it, while also maintaining those details?
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Oh, is it? So why is Allen named as the Zodiac when he has less to do with being the killer than Clint Eastwood?
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I loved that film, and also great because in Black and White, the Boss's house on the Hill, etc.
Great to see references from films other than Mainstreet releases from the last few years.
Capone, I'll give your reviews more priority in the future. -
And I was very surprised. Basic, Darkness Falls, and The Rundown? I would have maybe been worried going in if I was aware of this. It's nice that he did a fantastic job on this though (or maybe, knowing Fincher, there were re-writes). Who's have thought that the guy who wrote Darkness Falls could easily be getting a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination?
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Top notch across the board. It's a shame that this wasn't released in a more Oscar friendly slot, because it's as good as anything that was nominated in '06.
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I know it's ages away, but I'd like to think there'd be some sort of American Beauty-esque push for the awards, if only for Robert Downey Jr.'s sake. "I like reading." "What else?" "Books." "That's the same thing."
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Looked great, well acted. But it wasn't captivating as a character drama, and it didn't have enough juice to a great thriller. And about an hour too long.
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I totally agree, Screenplay and supporting awards at least, maybe even director for pulling off something so complicated so well for Fincher..... This movie is fantastic, please, if you haven't seen it yet, go, it's that good...
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a good quality screenshot of that overhead shot of the San Francisco Bridge, or would be willing to make one from the trailer, would they please let me know? Thanks.
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that "hey, there was this guy Arthur Leigh Allen who was the Zodiac and he never was caught, true story!". Probably the same cretins that now go around saying "hey, there was this family in Texas killing people with a chainsaw, true story!". Damn idiots.
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Something that's a lot more sophisticated, you appreciate more with each viewing and may arguably surpass his more popular work over time.
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He is an OVER-ACTOR, who over-emotes and over-mugs. Just sit there and watch him. How many different ways can he contort his face and stutter and open his eyes widely? IN ALL HIS MOVIES he does this! Sorry, but he is waaaay overrated by the filmsnob crowd.
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Way too long, way to scattered, way too unfocused. What cool-aid have you all been drinking, seriously. It wants to be All The Presidents Men; it's not. It wants to be a study of obsession; it isn't. I'll stick to Law & Order, at least they know how to do procedurals.
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....but, Zodiac never used a silencer at the BRS shooting. The groundskeeper heard the gun fire 800 ft away.
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"a movie that portrays the events surrounding the Zodiac pretty accurately". Heh. I'm going to call you stupid here, just a tad ignorant.
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Meant to say "NOT going".
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He said if it get a best picture nomination, he'll attend the Oscars...
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This may be the shortest 2 hour, 40 minute film I ever sat through, and I'm ALWAYS complaining that nobody seems to edit films anymore. Brilliantly executed, Fincher really pulls it together and amazingly left me wanting more. The only thing I sort of had problem with, but I can certainly see why the compromise had to be reached, was the inclusion of Graysmith's supposed 'crack' of the 340 cipher, without going into any detail, including what he actually decided that it said. Ultimately, I guess it was fairly necessary to at least touch on it to detail how he ended up on TV and that contribution to his failing marriage, but it sort of comes of looking like he definitively solved it, which is not generally accepted to be the case.
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on Zodiac, the rest of you wrote some short little opinion piece that sounds like a grade school book report.
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And nothing more. If you take it as that, it's a brilliant adaptation and probably the best film so far of 2007. If you're looking for an extremely accurate overview of the Zodiac, stick to the other books.
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That's what Graysmith experienced, and he's still the top suspect according to the police.
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and I liked it. I knew going it that it was a long movie but it really didn't seem that long. I did like the story line and it was good not knowing much about the case beforehand so it wasn't spoiled. I agree that it all might be the viewpoint of Greysmith and the movie did leave some stones unturned. What was really sad about it was how everyone who had anything at all to do with the case just about lost their personal lives to it. I enjoyed it!
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Was surprised by how much I liked it. It does remind you a lot of All The President's Men, but then the bulk of the story takes place during the same era and also in a newsroom, so I suspect that was intentional. Robert Downey Jr. is perfectly cast it would seem, and Jake Gyllenhaal does a great job fleshing out a somewhat unusual character we really aren't told all that much about.
It's a well-made film, doesn't insult your intelligence, isn't needlessly graphic and is full of interesting, sometimes creepy and occasionally hysterically funny performances. It is long, but didn't feel anywhere near as long as its actual running time, probably thanks to the amount of ground it covers. And it is impressive to see Fincher bury his trademark style in a film that looks and feels a lot like something shot in the '70s. I'd give it a good solid B+. It isn't revolutionary, but it's refreshing coming from Hollywood.
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This isn't exactly the novel or the theatre. Why not just film history? Is HIGH AND LOW not modern film? It was made in 1963. Were you worried about qualifying your judgment? Did the Lumiere Bros. make a procedural?
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You have a movie like Zodiac. Top actors A really good director . A good story line . Then something like WILD HOGS becomes #1 for the weekend. I'll never understand that.
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I just saw it yesterday and its still resonating in my mind today. Yes that Allen fuck is the zodiac. I dont care what other evidence has not been proven but if it smells like a duck then shoot it cuz its a fucking duck! Lets see 10.5 size shoe like what was found, a zodiac watch with the same symbol, his name was given by the friend of the girl who died and last but not least he was picked from a line up by the survivor from one of the attacks. That bitch did it.
http://tinyurl.com/pv8do -
Ender, first of all, trust me, I've been following this case for a loooong time. The stuff you mentioned is at best circumstantial, and not all of it can even be verified. You also forgot to mention that Allen passed a polygraph test with flying colors. By the way, the survivor who fingered Allen did so after 22 freaking years, most of which were spent abusing alcohol and drugs. Also, his original description of Zodiac was totally different. RE: ALLEN - The guy who confessed to the Ramsey killing was a weird motherfucker too. So yeah, he was totally guilty too, right, Mr. Bandwagon jumper? By the way, I wear 10 1/2 size shoes so I must be the fucking Zodiac.
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The disconnect we're having here is you believe too much of what Graysmith has written. You see, Graysmith has been throughly discredited. You aren't going to convince me with stuff I've read and re-read years ago. There's a lot of problems with the two books. Hit this link http://tinyurl.com/yq8ptf, and read up.
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...anybody know what's up with that? Fincher's obsessed with detail, and then a 1980 calendar shows up prominently over Leigh's shoulder in a 1983 scene. Maybe if it were a private office, it would show that he was neglectful or something, but this is on a hardware store's floor -- surely within three years someone would've replaced it with a current calendar...?
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Let's just say I know for certain.
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so be it..
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