Zodiac (2007)

[El Unicornio, mang]

It was out at the cinema months ago but I just got round to seeing this last night. Another brilliant offering from David Fincher and well worth renting on dvd (although the version out now is vanilla, there's a director's cut coming out next year). Great acting (Mark Ruffalo is great as Dave Toschi (the real life Toschi inspired Steve McQueen's character in Bullit), superb script with plenty of trademark Fincher humour, the usual dark gritty atmosphere that Fincher is a master at, good soundtrack and it never descends into any Hollywood cliches. There's also lots of great shots of beautiful San Francisco, including a nice time lapse shot of the Transamerica building being built.

It's a long film, two and a half hours, but I never felt bored, and I can't wait to see the other 40 mins that got cut.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

I saw it too. It requires some investment I must say, and when it becomes increasingly obvious where the case is heading and where the characters are heading, the last three quarters of an hour are incredibly slow and since I exited the cinema quite a while back now I've been feeling increasingly underwhelmed at what this had to offer. I mean, the presentation of the case really isn't that interesting after about half way through. The relationship between Gylenhall's character and his wife isn't very interesting, and that's an understatement.

Yes, I'd say the first hour or so is excellent well-made and well-paced cinema that unfortunately can't propel the story along, and the film a bit like the case itself stumbles over the line before dying on its arse. All very fitting but not good viewing. The most deserving film of a three star rating you could ever wish to find.

[El Unicornio, mang]

Well, it held my interest, even though I knew beforehand most of the details of the case. There was still a few twists (mostly red herrings) to keep things interesting and I'm just really into all the details of policework and suchlike so it never felt boring to me. I agree with you about the relationship with his wife though, she just seemed to pop up every 20 minutes or so to look pissed off. His children had better lines than her.

Still, as with his other films, I'd give it 4/5 for the visuals and sound alone, regardless of script, etc.

[wasp_f15ting]

This film was poo

[El Unicornio, mang]

You like The Fifth Element though. Case closed.

[wasp_f15ting]

The fifth element was awesome.

Anyway, i'll explain myself properly. I had very high expectations of watching this film due the directors previous work. This film was shit in a number of ways. Sure it could have been an accurate work about the murderer, but in my eyes it was far too clinical, it lacked any gore or sick stuff to make you realise how horrible the crimes the Zodiac committed were. There was no sense that the Zodiac was serious, all the piss taking seemed to take away the murder element.

I ended up feeling like I was completely mislead on what it was supposed to be. Maybe I went into it with the wrong expectations but I thought bar the excellent dialogue the film was utter wankery. I am not sure how he thought this would appeal to cinema goers. There was no sense of thrill or excitement in the story the whole thing just seemed to go on and on.

[James Christopher]

I don't usually like Fincher, I often find his films showy and gimicky. But I think Zodiac is brilliant. The tone is almost Scorsese, with it's 70s and 80s popular culture references, and epic scope. The murder scenes are shockingly stark and emotive, despite the lack of Se7en-style on-screen gore. But I really like the shift in tone - from the brutal nihilism of the first half, to the brooding melancholy of the last half.

Erm, so yeah. Liked it.

[Steve Lampkins]

it lacked any gore or sick stuff to make you realise how horrible the crimes the Zodiac committed were.

That stabbing was fucking brutal though. Turned my stomach a bit, and I'm not that squeamish.

[Glebe]

AICN - David Fincher and Quint talk about everything from A(lien3) to Z(odiac)!!!

CHUD.com - EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: DAVID FINCHER (ZODIAC DVD).

IGN: David Fincher Chats with IGN.