JohnDoe
Bryn
BrentonZodiac (2007) - The Premiere Orble Review
May 15th 2007 11:26
Zodiac- In Cinemas This Thursday
Smiled on by the cinema gods, Johnny boy got his mits on an invite to the Zodiac Preview screening last night. So a thank you to Warner Brothers and Civic Video for their generosity, now onto the verdict.
In Cinemas May 17th 2007
Writer:James Vanderbilt
Starring:Robert Downey Jnr, Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Brian Cox, John Getz, Candy Clarke, Elias Kosteas, Chloe Sevigny, Phillip Baker Hall, Dermont Mulroney, Adam Goldberg
"I Need to know who he is. I need to stand there, I need to look him in the eye and I need to know that it's him." - Robert Graysmith
San Francisco in the late 1960’s and early 70’s was in a state of terror as the Zodiac killer brutally slaughtered innocent people and taunted the media with promises of more carnage.
"Before I kill you, I'm going to throw your baby out the window." - Zodiac
Adapting the best selling investigative case study by Robert Graysmith, Zodiac is the latest film from cinema savant David Fincher (Fight Club & Se7en).
"Someone should write a fuckin' book, that's for sure." - Paul Avery
Attentively following police procedures and showing the bureaucracy that comes with multi-regional homicides, the San Francisco P.D. operates on high alert. Animal Cracker lover Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and buttoned down Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) obsess over paper thin clues left by the killer still violently rampaging around the city.
In the newsroom we have Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jnr), the alcoholic and gifted reporter for the Chronicle. Sitting just near him, sketching his latest cartoon is the clean blooded amateur cipher Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal). When a coded letter is received from the elusive murderer this mismatched duo start down a path that will either define or destroy them.
Crossword: 10 down, what is the Day After Tomorrow. 4 Letter word?
John Doe says:
Grisly and gritty, meticulously researched, David Fincher’s inventive true-crime detective story recounts the horrific events and their aftermath thoroughly from all perspectives, achieving determined realism that’s tense and suspenseful.
Using Alan J Pakula’s All the President’s Men as a tuning fork, an unwavering attention to detail means that everything you see and hear carries authenticity. By restraining himself we see a more refined side to the director, an exercise in atmospheric control.
The film is an atmospheric but deliberately unglamorized recreation that hypnotises with its thoughtful staging, well drawn characters and water dripping pace. Spanning four decades yet somehow still feeling like it is a lot shorter than its 151 minute running time. There is the illusion of constant movement because of the echoing real life, crucial actions arriving with little or no warning.
Shot using cutting edge HD cameras and edited with Final Cut Pro to boldly create a unique, stylised documentary texture that carries a moody menace and captures images in time with precision. A scorching soundtrack and dense audioscape is full of appropriate touches that make the silence scream. Beeping horns and tyres screeching unbalance the viewer and the sound of a phone ringing in the background can become inconsequential.
There’s a divine design that allows you to be manipulated by the inherent fear of its unpredictable delivery. Sigh at a strategic comedy break or hang on every word of the staggered exposition that never becomes rote. The murders shock with their plausible execution, conversations ripple with an unseen underlying importance that excites.
Slow burning and penned for realism the screenplay’s thickly informative dialogue flows naturally from well drawn and immensely enthralling characters and situations.
Synergizing with the serious tone established in the background, as if they were SAS soldier in camo-gear, all the cast sustain the unbroken spell. All the performers in both big and small parts are exceptional, ensuring that this film becomes as much about the players as it does the engrossing mystery plot.
Robert Downey Jnr (Wonderboys, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Chaplin) as the kooky, unflappable chemically dependant head reporter on the case is astounding. Character quirks and ticks in lesser hands would be theatrics but in his they brew into a fully formed role that gains our sympathy and respect.
Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, Jarhead) disappears into the mind of Robert Graysmith and brings a charm to his portrayal of the book worm hero.
Mark Rufallo (You Can Count On Me, Eternal Sunshine…, Safe Men) impresses as he carves out a singular place in the annals of classic onscreen blood hounds. Taking a heap of Columbo, a dash of Karl Malden in Streets of San Francisco dusted with Popeye Doyle becomes his character.
Dermont Mulroney (Living In Oblivion), Elias Kosteas (The Thin Red Line), Phillip Baker Hall (Hard Eight) and Brian Cox (Manhunter) all captivate with their honed skills matching the leads.
John Doe was mesmerised from the first beat of the organic opening scene till the ponder worthy finale. Having read a lot on this case over the years this has to be one of the most honest adaptations JD has ever seen. Few facts have been altered for the sake of artistic license and within this strict frame work you will be drawn into noticing every heart beat and breath of this exceptional example of modern filmmaking.
Watch for the camera tracking a taxi overhead which seems to occupy the same space, uncut and moving in unison as music, background noise and vision meld. That’s just one of the many cinematic set ups that will take you out of your seat and onto the screen.
The Trailer:
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Comment by Nickoftime's Sanity Corner
sounds like this maybe a good movie for a Friday night at the cinema with popcorn and company!
Great review!
Take care,
Nick
Comment by peeker
Film Peek Forum
Great review, I'm happy it is as good as I think it'll be.
Have a good one,
peeker
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Lilla
From The Home Front
Enviro Warrior
Dream Herald
Esoteric Bookshop
Thank God, I'm not being singled out by the Socialist party...*chuckle* no I'm having trouble on the environmental arena as well ...can';t upload a single pic of bottled water???
~oOo~
JohnD,
I thought this was a really good review :
I will watch this one, for sure.
Thanks for yet another great heads up!
Lilla ...
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by Bryn
Horrorphile
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Bryn - Well, keeping that song out of my head was "All going so well" lol! ;o)
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
I look forward to hearing every ones opinion on this once they've seen it...I know some will be pissed, some will love it and a few just won't get it..Everyone here will get something out of it Im sure.
Appreciate the support too gang, thanj you.
PS-Thanks for typo heads up Postmodern
Comment by D. Armenta
The Florida Keys and Everglades
The Black Sheep Chronicles
What constitutes bad manners?
The male mystique
Debate Fan
L.A.M.P.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
It should get their soon, it has been out in the US for a while now.
Comment by MelissaA
Fun Facts
Comment by postmoderncritic
Postmodern Critic
Relativity Watch
Padsoc
Anyway, I enjoyed Zodiac considerably, though I sorely missed all the postmodern techniques that never made their way into the film. My favourite sequence had to be the montage where the handwritten notes and articles were seeping into the fabric of reality, almost as if embedded on walls and flat surfaces. Then sometimes the writing represented a wall of its own, a paper-thin barrier which was turned on its side for us to pan past - almost Matrix-y.
The pacing and the acting were excellent and aside from the grisly murders themselves I enjoyed the entire journey.