DVD Reviews

DVD Review: Zodiac

By Jeff Swindoll Jul 22, 2007, 14:02 GMT

The Zodiac killer haunted San Francisco in the late ‘60s and director David Fincher brings that unknown, uncaught killer back to haunt movie screens in this thriller.

What the back of the box says:
“Based on the true story of the notorious serial killer and the intense manhunt he inspired, Zodiac is a superbly crafted thriller from the director of Se7en and Panic Room. Featuring an outstanding ensemble cast led by Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo and Chloe Sevigny, Zodiac is a searing and singularly haunting examination of twin obsessions: one man's desire to kill and another's quest for the truth.”

The Zodiac killer is a modern version of Jack the Ripper in that it still holds fascination for our current crop of both professional and amateur investigators alike in that it was never officially solved. The film wisely takes the focus off of the killer and doesn’t try to create a fictional backstory since the authorities never really found out any solid information about the killer - besides the facts of his crimes. Although there is still some doubt about some of those since the Zodiac was one to take credit for crimes it was believed that he didn’t commit. Instead the film focuses on the pursuers of our mysterious killer. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist in the San Francisco Chronicle’s newsroom, happens to be around when the killer’s first letter is sent in. He eventually will write the book that this film is based on. Robert Downey, Jr. is Paul Avery, a feature writer at the Chronicle, who will be the prime reporter on the case and eventually have the killer make threats against him (leading others in the newsroom to wear “I’m not Paul Avery” buttons in a amusing twist). Detective David Toschi is played by Mark Ruffalo and is the cop assigned to find our twisted title character, along with his partner William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards). Each of these characters, amongst others, will have a different level of obsession with finding out who the killer is, some of them will sacrifice careers, marriages, health, and perhaps sanity in looking for the mysterious Zodiac. Since this is based on Graysmith’s novel the person fingered for being the Zodiac is his personal preference, but you should know that the case has officially never been solved. So the film does have a suspect but there’s no official word as to whether that suspect was really the Zodiac. Fincher offers Graysmith’s evidence and never really sways in the direction that this person was the Zodiac. The film is quite compelling but does have a bit of a slow middle section, but picks up steam (and suspense) as Graysmith begins his amateur investigations. Zodiac is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and enhanced for 16x9 televisions. A fullscreen version is available separately. The special features are where this disc is a bet of a let down and also a bit of a tease. The only special features are previews for Next and Perfume. The tease comes in that there’s also a trailer for the two-disc version of Zodiac that coming in 2008. It has a director’s commentary and other grand features, but you’ll have to wait.

Zodiac is a fine film and an interesting slice of the ‘70s. Just don’t expect any easy answers to one of the great-unsolved mysteries of the time. Zodiac is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.

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