Zodiac
In All the Stars - Mark W
After the somewhat misfiring Panic Room, there were some reservations about this latest work from David Fincher. We needn't have worried however, Fincher has definitely returned to form with this assured treatment of the familiar whodunit format.
James Vanderbilt's script, which plays out like a cross between The Silence of the Lambs and All The Presidents Men, bubbles and pops with sharp observations, witticism and some brilliant one-liners which more that occupy the attention for the full 2 3/4 hours of screen time, and provides an interesting twist for the genre, relegating the serial killer to little more than an extra. There's no Kevin Spacey or Anthony Hopkins style scenery chewing performances here, just an honest story, well-told.
Gyllenhaal is assured in his role as the geeky San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist however, as in Brokeback Mountain, his credibility suffers due to his lack of ability to grow up convincingly as the film progresses through the decades. Ruffalo is magnificent as the troubled, though not quite clichéd, cop while Downey Jr. is adequate as the slightly off-beat, on-edge, twitchy journalist, but then again why shouldn't he be, he's been playing every role he's got in the last 20 years like that anyway.
For all it's positives, Zodiac does lack the 'cool' (possibly Brad Pitt?) factor which made Se7en and Fight Club so successful, everything appears just a little too bleak and drab, especially for a city which was still in the aftermath of the summer of love at the time when the murders took place. That said, this is still one of the best crime thrillers in a long time and well worth the 5 year wait Fincher has put us through.
Review published on the 21 May 2007 11:40
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