An enthrallingly unsatisfactory film, worth watching and deciphering
Zodiac (2007)
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Reviews Counted:223
Fresh:198
Rotten:25
Average Rating:7.6/10
Consensus: A quiet, dialogue-driven thriller that delivers with scene after scene of gut-wrenching anxiety. David Fincher also spends more time illustrating nuances of his characters and recreating the mood of the 70s than he does on gory details of murder.
Rated: R [See Full Rating] for some strong killings, language, drug material and brief sexual images
Runtime: 2 hrs 42 mins
Genre: Murder, Killer, , Cops, True Story, Thriller, Serial Killers, 1970s, 1960s, Detectives, Murder Mysteries, Murder Investigations, Based On A Novel, Theatrical Release
Theatrical Release:Mar 2, 2007 Wide
Box Office: $33,048,353
Synopsis: David Fincher's (FIGHT CLUB, SE7EN) adaptation of the Robert Graysmith book masterfully transports viewers to the Bay Area in the 1960s and '70s by drawing on actual case files from the notoriously... David Fincher's (FIGHT CLUB, SE7EN) adaptation of the Robert Graysmith book masterfully transports viewers to the Bay Area in the 1960s and '70s by drawing on actual case files from the notoriously unsolved Zodiac killer mystery. As a murderer with seemingly random targets starts sending terrifying threats and cryptic codes to police and publishers all around San Francisco, fear and paranoia descend on the city. Through slow pacing, Fincher creates an effectively chilling atmosphere in which he spins a thick web of character-driven plotlines. Early scenes depicting the Zodiac's first-known murders vividly capture the victim's fear and agony and will leave viewers haunted. When the Zodiac's ciphers arrive at the San Francisco Chronicle, they spark the interest of Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young cartoonist with a penchant for puzzles. As the former Boy Scout earnestly tries to decode the messages, eccentric reporter Paul Avery approaches the case from a career-boosting angle. Meanwhile, a string of investigators from four jurisdictions carry on a complex and unsatisfying search for the elusive killer. Inspectors Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) at times collide with Avery and Graysmith, whose interest in the case extends long after most have given up. Even at two-and-a-half hours in length, this dense murder mystery should manage to keep its audience riveted throughout. Paired with stellar performances from Ruffalo, Downey, Gyllenhaal, and countless others, a clever script produces well-developed characters, and the film's art direction, music, and costumes all combine to create an authentic sense of time and place. The somber tone of the atmospheric thriller gives the film a documentary-like aesthetic at times, lending weight to the story's facts while never relying on cheap tricks. Unlike murder mysteries such as THE BLACK DAHLIA, ZODIAC invites viewers to develop theories of their own, allowing them to come to their own conclusions. [More]
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Chloe Sevigny, Anthony Edwards
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Chloe Sevigny, Anthony Edwards, Gary Oldman, Mark Ruffalo, Ione Skye, Clea DuVall, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, John Carroll Lynch, Dermot Mulroney, Donal Logue, Pell James, Jimmi Simpson, Charles Fleischer
Director: David Fincher
Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Composer: David Shire
Producer: Arnold Messer, Mike Medavoy
Studio: Paramount Pictures
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Release:
Jan 27, 2009
Blu-ray Disc Features:
- 2-Disc Set
- Sensormatic
- Director's Cut
- Full Frame - 1.33
- Widescreen - 1.85
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 5.1 Plus - English
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish
Additional Release Material:
Featruettes:
- 1. Zodiac Deciphered HD
- 2. Blue Rock Springs HD
- 3. The San Francisco Chronicle HD
- 4. The Hall of Justice HD
- 5. Presidio Heights HD
- 6. Lake Berryessa HD
- 7. Obsession HD
- 8. The Visual Effects of Zodiac HD
- 9. Previsualization
- 10. Blue Rock Springs
- 11. Lake Berryessa
- 12. San Francisco
- 13. The Facts
- 14. This is the Zodiac Speaking
- 15. Lake Herman Road HD
- 16. Prime Suspect
- 17. His Name Was Arthur Leigh Allen HD
- Trailers: Original Theatrical Trailer HD
Audio Commentary:
- 1. David Fincher - Director
- 2. Jake Gyllenhall - Star, Robert Downey Jr. - Star, Brad Fischer - Producer, James Vanderbilt - Writer, James Ellroy - Writer
Featurette:
- 1. The Visual Effects of Zodiac
- 2. Previsualization
Documentary:
- 1. Zodiac Deciphered
- 2. This is Zodiac Speaking
- 3. His Name Was Arthur Leigh Allen
Reviews for Zodiac
Zodiac is a marvel of moody photography, as it tries to capture the funereal pall hanging over a metropolitan city in the grip of fear.
There are no tidy, last-minute plot twists to make you feel good in Fincher's Zodiac, just focus -- to keep an audience focused -- and the most disciplined filmmaking you've seen in forever.
[W]here Se7en, with its stygian gloom and theatrical executions, inflated the serial killer genre to gothic proportions, Zodiac lets the air back out. It is methodical rather than macabre, clinical rather than cruel.
Zodiac does a great job of showing three different paths (reporter, cop, cartoonist) in trying to capture a serial killer.
Zodiac has us ponder the frustrations of a case that won't close up tightly like your weekly CSI.
Gone are the emphatic jumps and the flying-camera-through-the-keyhole style of "Panic Room". By avoiding the superficial scares he ends up creating a more devastating dread
It is not its lack of resolution that makes Zodiac a poor film, it is its stupefying dull progression.
An all-star cast delivers in David Fincher's look into the investigation around one of history's great unsolved serial killer cases.
What makes this movie special is that really, not much happens. ,yet it's insanely gripping, even if someone is explaining discovery or flipping through a file.
Fincher, more subdued ... and aching for a return to smart suspense films from the likes of Sidney Lumet and Alan J. Pakula, pulls us by the collar into the frame and cranks the sense of menace taut without cheap tricks or cop-out gimmicks.
... with this film [Fincher] detours from the graphic violence and depravity of Se7en and Fight Club to a more psychological realm of terror.
David Fincher presents an intriguing and intelligent puzzle of a film.
Not until well into its second hour does it settle on a theme: the need to know the truth, and the dismal toll of that futile obsession.
Director David Fincher is an absolute master of psychological terror.
David Fincher's sixth feature potently blends the dynamics of the newsroom drama with those of the police procedural.
Zodiac is, as everyone says, an unusually complex and ambitious true-crime story, and (more important) a deeply engaging study of three obsessed men.
Latest News for Zodiac
January 26, 2009:
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