zodiac awesome

Zodiac: Awesome?

I've seen it twice already, and I'm about ready to state that David

Fincher's Zodiac will probably become one of the best films of 2007.

Now, I know what you're thinking. "Devin, it's far to early to be

saying stuff like that" And who knows? Maybe Wes Anderson will finally

put out a new movie this year. Maybe P.T. Anderson (the other white

Anderson) will finally get his "Daniel Day-Lewis as an oil tycoon"

picture off the ground. Maybe Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez'

new project Grindhouse will be f*ckin' awesome (it will be).

But for now, Zodiac reigns. Everything about the film is stellar.

Excellent performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert

Downey Jr. Gripping script with really innovative dialogue and

sequencing. Awesome music. And such an amazing attention to detail.

Every setpiece is precise, every time period is accurately

represented. Fincher even throws in an old school 70's "Paramount

Pictures" logo at the start of the film.

In addition to the look of the film, Fincher obsesses over the

information that is shown on the screen. Countless title cards flash

throughout the film, giving us the exact date and place (and often the

exact time) of the events that unfold. 911 calls are repeated verbatim

from the original police transcripts. Evidence, newspaper clippings,

television news segments. Every aspect of this bizarre case is pored

over and, like Gyllenhaal's character (who is the author of the Zodiac

books on which this film is based), the audience becomes obsessed with

finding the truth.

But the truth is quite hard to obtain, and unfortunately, the police

(and Graysmith) never seem to reach any concrete conclusions. The film

seems to reflect this, as the nameless, faceless Zodiac killer is

portrayed throughout the film by no less than three different actors,

each picked because they were the actors who closely matched the

description by eyewitnesses and survivors of each of the murders.

Now, please don't think I'm giving anything away by revealing this

innovative choice of casting. It only adds to the ominous nature of

the killer, and of the film itself. Trust me; no other movie in

theaters is worth your time (all two-and-a-half hours of it) and your

money to go see. And that's a fact.