Zodiac

I’m a big, big fan of David Fincher. Loved Seven, adored Fight Club, enjoyed Panic Room and even tolerated Alien 3. I find that Fincher has the ability to keep you glued to the screen whether it be through creative camera moves, dark humour or compelling characters. Fincher pulls this off again with Zodiac.

Recently, I’ve been teaching cinematography to my media class so my eye has been sharply focused on the way film is shot. While Fight Club is still the benchmark of trippy camera moves in a Fincher film, Zodiac has some sweet shots like following cars around the city of San Francisco. There is also an awesome time sequence that incorporates newspaper articles, handwriting and visuals that is reminiscent of Stranger Than Fiction’s math equations or Fincher’s own Ikea shots in Fight Club.

The Zodiac story is based on true events. The story jumps from decade to decade starting in 1969 and ending in 1991. There aren’t too many embellishments to the story, Fincher has tried to retrace all the evidence of this unsolved case, even filming at a couple of the crime scenes. This is not the first re-telling of the story though, there are many Zodiac films in circulation today, ones even as recent as 2005 and 2006. A story about a serial killer is nothing new to Fincher, but don’t go in expecting Seven. There is a lot more talking in this film. But even so, I found the case to be fascinating and it did help that some humour was thrown into the mix. A friend of mine has complained about David Fincher movies, saying that Fincher always ends his film with zero hope and a bullet to the head. Because the Zodiac case is still unresolved, there may be little hope but at least there is no violent conclusion. In fact, with a movie about a serial killer, there is not that much violence on the screen. There are a couple gruesome scenes but it’s not a constant killing spree.

The actors in Zodiac all give fine performances. I even liked Jake Gyllenhaal, an actor I get sick of pretty easily. He usually reminds me a depressed-looking Tobey MacGuire, but he actually does well in this film as a cartoonist obsessed with finding the true identity of the Zodiac killer. Robert Downey Jr. is his usual vice-ridden self and Mark Ruffalo does great as the lead cop with a bad bowtie. It was also nice to Anthony Edwards (ER, Top Gun) back on the screen as Ruffalo’s partner. Of course, Fincher has his token female character, this time played by the lovely Chloe Sevigny. There are also some great character actors popping up on the screen. I don’t find that anyone truly outshines the others, but it’s still a great cast to watch.

It’s been five years since Panic Room. Fincher was supposed to direct Mission Impossible III early on but backed out. It’s nice to see this meticulous director return with something substantial. His next one is with Brad Pitt growing younger and younger. I can’t wait to see it; and you shouldn’t wait to see Zodiac. It’s a little long and talk-heavy but I’m sure it will still appease all the David Fincher fans out there.