zodiac robert downey jr

"ZODIAC"

Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anthony Edwards,

John Carroll Lynch, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, Chloe Sevigny

"There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer"

Cinema 6, SM Megamall

This film is based on actual case files about a serial killer named

"Zodiac" with references from the books written by Robert Graysmith.

The San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist, portrayed by Jake Gyllenhaal

who got obsessed by the case. David Fincher who also pegged "Se7en",

"Panic Room" and "Fight Club" uses a now familiar visual technique

prominent in most of his films. Dim, grainy images, a few jarring hand

held effects to depict the era/setting of the film. "Zodiac" starts

from the late 60s and spans 4 decades. To give the film a more

documentary feel, the time frame was shown on screen to indicate the

evolution of the case. But it distracted me because I kept trying to

figure out "8 weeks later from which month?". Well I was never good in

math, anyway!

The ensemble cast of mostly good actors essayed their well developed

characters efficiently. Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey

Jr and even Elias Koteas all sported the 70s look complete with wavy

hair, bushy sideburns, bell bottoms and tight suits. But how come Jake

Gyllenhaal still looked the same throughout the movie? OK granted that

he portrays the author of the books upon which the film is based so he

had a more lengthy role but it would be fair to say he actually had

just one expression on his ruggedly pleasant face throughout the

movie.

Of course how else can you expose the evil machinations of a serial

killer without resorting to violent scenes? The violence was rather

graphic in some shots and merely implied in other scenes so it wasn't

too disturbing to watch. .It makes you wish that DNA profiling was

available back then so that the killer would have been caught right

away. Yet the very fact that technology wasn't up to par back then

makes the "Zodiac" case and the film for that matter so engrossing to

follow. Fincher presented factual information and thankfully didn't

sugarcoat it with any embellishments to give it some dramatic effect

for Hollywood sake.

Yes, the film is long but it was cleverly edited in such a way that

every scene was vital for the audience to get a better grip on the