Zodiac (2007)

Whether in stark contrast to the dreck of a lot of modern movies (a slight over-exaggeration) or simply a modern masterwork, David Fincher unleashed his nearly 3-hour reference gem, Zodiac, on the unsuspecting public this weekend. Robert Downey Jr. is The Chronicle's crime reporter, Jake Gyllenhaal is recognizable as the real-life Zodiac expert Robert Graysmith, Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards (of ER fame) take center stage, upon their arrivals, as the real-life inspectors David Toschi and William Armstrong. These two draw the short straws (in retrospect) when a series of letters to the San Francisco Chronicle become to much for the editors of the paper to handle. Ruffalo is brilliant as the grounded, realistic lead inspector who wants to act but is bound by procedure. In fact, the entire cast (supporting and otherwise) hold steady as Zodiac's time line stretches beyond the decade. In particular, Downey Jr.'s character is quite the spectacle. [As an aside, I've come up with a concept that this character can be easily extrapolated into the dystopian future of A Scanner Darkly, where Downey portrays a drug-soaked schizo, who's "fall" might have very well begun in ways portrayed here! I humor myself....sue me.] Fincher's direction, per usual, is off the charts good.

Not only does Fincher capture, with mind-boggling accuracy, every aspect of the given "era" (I wasn't around then...in the interest of full disclosure), and he spins such a wise and sober yarn as to almost be bland or unsavory (have you read Journal of the Plague Year?). It's certainly not cool (although claiming to be un-cool has long been a way of doing so). Fincher simply presents well-established facts and long-held notions that the case was bungled from the beginning. What's more is, sworn testimony offers evidence that The "Zodiac killer" was well aware of, and seemed to invite, an investigation. What compelled me to see the film twice in two days was Fincher's genius, almost diabolical pacing.

Two other films immediately came to mind which seem to pen the film itself as a character to be considered. With Zodiac, the real life murderer's spree was marked with fits & starts, with long intervals of stagnation (ditto for the investigation). As the investigation makes way for dead ends and glimmers of hope, Fincher's departures from the investigation, into the characters lives (a la Heat), create avenues for drama and intensity beyond the sometimes soul-shaking violence in the Zodiac's world. Zodiac shan't be relegated to a best-guess-ending-for-an-unsolved-crime category, it works in too many ways and really doesn't pretend to solve the case anyway. Like Oliver Stone's JFK before it, Fincher works with facts, alongside supposition (fast and loose in some areas), to make a credible case and a brilliant movie. Interestingly enough, this mirrors the media/law enforcement kerfuffles of today. Unlike JFK, there really aren't alternatives laid out; reasonable doubt isn't an aim, it's a hindrance, the aim here is to draw parallels and expose. "There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer.", the film's tagline reads; there's more than one way to lose a killer as well.