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Alert, Entertained and Impressed
by Debra (movies profile)
Feb 13, 2008
119
of
128 people found this review helpful
Rarely do I leave a movies as invigorated as I was when I walked out of a sneak preview of Zodiac Thursday night. This movies spoke to both the logical puzzle solver side of my analytical being while keeping my emotional responses plugged in as well.
The suspense felt real, the events new, the ending unknown; all this even though I remember reading and hearing and seeing coverage of these events while they happened and I am sure I have a copy of the book somewhere deep in the boxes of paperbacks lining my garage. Script-wise, the movies adheres to a spare and yet incredibly rich portrayal of the sequence of events surrounding the killings and the media coverage. The relationship of the Zodiac killer and his obsession with media coverage reflected in the resulting obssession of the police and reporters who must bear witness to his crimes was played out brilliantly in the multifaceted performances of all the actors in the major roles.
Jake Gyllenhaal's inquisitive naivete morphs into a man obsessed with knowing the end of the story at all costs. He has two stand out scenes, one in a basement and the other in a hardware store. Both demonstrate the range he brings to his work in sublime fashion. I wish I could go into more detail about the nuances of delivery or the set up of the scenes, but to do so would spoil the effect for those who have yet to watch.
Robert Downy Jr.'s performance as Paul Avery, the San Fransisco Chronicle reporter who engaged in his own mental tug of war with the manipulative nature of the kilings offers a black humor counterpart to the otherwise shocking and frustrating nature of the killings.
Right in the middle of these two characters steps Mark Ruffalo's detective Tasci, who, along with a host of other great actors gives the police side of this story a real humanity. The lack of communication between the differing jurisdictsion as a result of the now dated technology made me want to hand someone a cell phone or drag them to a computer. Just as nature abhors a vacuum, Gyllenhaal's character becomes the 'computing device' organizing unrelated elements into a coherant picture.
I really like this film. I felt it had the same gritty intensity of last year's "The Departed" and similarly, strong performances by everyone in front of the camera. The editing is great and I found the subtitled dates helpful in grasping the events as they occurred. Whoever picked the lineup for the soundtrack, particularly the opener from "Hair" gets my vote for creating the mood. The movie is fast paced and I did not feel like I had been sitting for over two hours when it finished. I say bravo to everyone involved, and thanks for entertaining me. |
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