"Zodiac" (2007)

David Fincher has finally directed his opus.

'Zodiac' is a huge, towering cinematic achievement. It is 'The Godfather' of true crime movies. I say that meaning 'Zodiac' has the epic scope of 'The Godfather' using perfect cinematography, directing, writing, and acting to recreate a time and tell a story that evolves over many years as 'The Godfather' movies do so well..

This isn't a exploitative thrill-ride, this is a long, slow meditation on the investigation of a serial murderer. Some people might find this extremely, mind-numbingly boring. Other will be fascinated by it (as I was).

The story is more the story of the reactions to the killer than the killer himself. Mainly because they never caught the Zodiac killer in real life. All of the characters are based on real people and each actor got a really well-written piece to act out. There isn't a stand-out actor in this film but the movie does feature an extremely strong trio of performances by Robert Downey Jr, Mark Ruffalo, and Jake Gyllenhal.

Fincher's directing in this film is the culmination of all of his stylistic exercises of his previous movies and it blows all of them away. As a piece of art it can hardly be touched. As a completely realized screen vision I'd say 'Seven' is the only other movie he has done that comes close.

As I said before though, some will find this movie long, and painfully slow. It isn't popcorn entertainment like 'Seven'. What it is - is a beautiful, epic, character-study of the men on Zodiac's trail and the time that they lived in.

I think Fincher really pulled off an amazing feat by directing this movie how he did. You really just have to see it to get the genius I'm referring to. This movie is beautiful. I hope he gets looked at come Oscar time next year.

Music Note: The original score by 70's maestro David Shire kicks all kinds of ass. It reflects the time period, sets the tone, gets your 'Pelham 123' toe tapping and yet somehow ends up sounding  modern and cutting edge too.


Originally posted on March 7, 2007 on Myspace.