Zodiac

I want to start this with by commenting on the greatness of David Fincher. You don’t have to be a great director to take a story about a serial killer that terrorized most of California for more than two decade and was never caught and turn it into an interesting visual experience. What you get when you bring a talent like Fincher on board is more than just story telling. Fincher has the ability to take great ideas and make the most of them. All too often a producer will assemble all the pieces, actors, script, setting, etc… but the director is unable to pull it all together either trying to do too much or falling short of expectations. Fincher is able to make the most of his cast and keeps the story moving on screen. One of the secrets to his brilliance is that there is not one thing about his movies that is repetative from movie to movie, story to story he is able to completely involve himself in that story at the moment. His techniques are unique to the specific film that he is working on.

In Zodiac he is able to keep a relatively uneventful script moving for 2 1/2 hours. One would think that a movie about a serial killer would be easy to keep going, but this was want intended to be a slasher pic. In fact Fincher went anti his Se7en self and a real crime drama about what the individuals at the center of this unsolvable crime went through and what it did to each of their lives. Furthermore it was more about the story and following the pieces to the rather than focusing on the individuals putting the pieces together, in fact Jacke Gylenhall who stars in the movie as Robert Graysmith, the author of the best selling book about the Zodiac killings and eventually "solve" the murders, is sometimes not seen on screen for long stretches of time, becuase for Fincher he is only an element to this film.

However cudos must be paid to the cast that was able to carry out Fincher's vision. Mark Ruffalo, plays the lead detective on the case David Toschi and does a great job of playing a smart cop that is nothing more than simply a cop. He has quirks and flaws and is not overly tough any of the other cliches that we typically associate with hollywood cops. Instead he is simply a cop tyring to do his job. I also have to show some love to Bobby Downey, Jr. and his ascote. That's right Bobby Downey is rocking a silk scraf around his neck for a bunch of the movie. Gylenhaal also does a good job of not over doing it, but staying within the established boundries of his character.

This is not one of those movies I could watch over and over again, but I am definately glad I did see it and it is definately recommended. Good time at the multiplex.

GRADE - B+