Zodiac
Reviewed by Theo Michelfeld
Posted: March 6, 2007

David Fincher first caught my attention with the film Alien 3, but he gained widespread notoriety a few years later with his undeniably beautiful and endlessly re-watchable thriller Seven. That film's A-list cast included Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, and Gwynneth Paltrow, and they were good... and at the same time they were all upstaged by Fincher's visionary directing. No doubt Seven's impact ultimately comes from its theme of sin and punishment; the film suggests that life is hell, and we all belong there. I'm not so sure I agree, but in any case, such films require convincing delivery, and with Seven, Fincher brought it. He crafted images you could feel, and a weirdly exquisite atmosphere of dread.

Now, twelve years later, David Fincher has made another serial killer film: Zodiac. Fans of Seven - and there are many - are likely chomping at the bit for this return to the genre from the fellow who once resuscitated it. But thankfully, Zodiac differs from Seven in almost every way. For one thing, it's more drama than thriller. For another, it's got much more up its sleeve. Seven, as good as it was, was merely a glorification of the villain's pathology. In Zodiac, however, the killer sets things in motion and then becomes almost incidental to all of his ripple effects.

It's a complex, fascinating, mesmerizing, and yes, beautiful film, about the media's relationship to a news story, about their relationship to the police, about the power of information and mis-information, about the crippling process of law, and about the way an obsession makes victims of the living. It's about an unhealthy culture, in other words. But at the same time, Zodiac insists on something bigger, and stronger, than our failings. Because unlike the urban wasteland setting of Seven, the San Francisco of this film is NOT going down the tubes - not even close. Zodiac shows us a culture that lives and breathes and sprawls farther and wider than the fear it harbors. Among this film's wonderful qualities is the overwhelming vibrancy of the setting. While the heroes court their own psychological un-doings, there is an ongoing sense that life awaits them when they've finally chased down the last red herring. In this way Fincher has done a complete 180 from the film that made him a star. Although he once again creates a palpable sense of atmosphere, this time he bathes us in the antidote to terror.

The film follows the case of the Zodiac Killer, who in 1969 and the early 1970s blackmailed several newspapers into publishing coded taunts and clues, thereby making the pursuit of himself something of an "interactive experience" for the public. His actions inspired mass paranoia, as well as confessions from wannabes, and thousands of dead-end leads from citizens who got hooked on the thrill. As this film illustrates, the Zodiac case baffled the San Francisco police, terrorized the public, and did harm well beyond the handful of murders that set the whole thing off.

Jake Gyllenhall stars as Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle who became obsessed with the killer and pursued him for years after the police had given up. Mark Ruffalo plays detective Dave Toschi, who became a silent partner for Graysmith after the case went cold. And Robert Downey Jr. plays the reckless, strung out reporter Paul Avery who stirred up trouble and headlines for all involved. The actors are uniformly impressive, particularly Ruffalo, who embodies the film's brilliant anti-hysterical tone. Meanwhile, several other actors give excellent performances in peripheral roles, including Chloe Sevingy, Anthony Edwards, Dermot Mulroney, and Brian Cox.

The film's half-dozen interwoven themes are all worthy of discussion. And most of them make their way through the arc of Graysmith's character, who provides much of the story's drama. This was a noble, modest, responsible citizen who became intoxicated with the mystery of the Zodiac and fairly thanklessly devoted his life to it. Of course in doing so, Graysmith gave the killer exactly what he wanted: attention and respect.

I believe Fincher was wary of falling into the same trap, which is why he chose to make a drama of this film, and why, at the same time, he chose to stage the murders anyway. There's an utterly horrific scene in this movie, a nearly bloodless lakeside stabbing that is filmed so prosaically it left a chill over the movie theater. The viewer may wonder why this great, character-driven movie requires that we witness such a thing, but then what follows becomes, for the film's characters, less about justice and more about solving a puzzle. Ultimately, unwittingly, the Zodiac Killer and Robert Graysmith fed each other's needs; they each provided for the other a raison d'etre. Likewise, with its exposition of a media-fueled manhunt, this film reflects, in more ways than one, our current national obsession with true crime, true killers, and true killings. We all love a puzzle, a challenge. But we mustn't forget the murder part of the mystery. It's no fun for the victim. And in this film, Fincher makes sure we know it. With that one lakeside scene, he seems to be saying: "Who cares if this sick bastard was a genius?" Again, the guy who directed Seven has come a long way.

Meanwhile, the greatest pleasure of this movie is the way Fincher's sober message is re-enforced throughout, with countless day-lit scenes and un-imperiled characters, and a ga-zillion locations - too many for any man to terrorize - all of them meticulous recreations of an exhilarating time and place. Somehow, with all of his sane characters and all of their eye-candy surroundings, Fincher manages to un-fetishize the killer, even while his film keeps following those who remain under the Zodiac's spell. It's an amazing and creative approach to a serial killer movie... to watch and watch but never endorse the unhealthy behavior - even the hero's. Fincher gently, consitently coaxes the film and the viewer out of the shadows. From his director's chair, he might well be playing the role of Benevolence itself. And in our modern, fear-junkie era, it's a welcome approach. My hat's off to you, David Fincher. Great movie.

Copyright 2007 Theo Michelfeld