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That said I have never really enjoyed the movie in the sense as SOTL or 7 have given me a great movie, which I consider the two great serial killer movies (with a honorable mention of Copycat with Sigourney Weaver).
I also find that DIRTY HARRY did a much better job with the figure of the Zodiac killer.
And a note on the film, I really did feel quite unnerved by the atmosphere of the whole film, I couldn't sleep the night I watched it.
I know, right?! The film's atmosphere is amazing, as it is with all of Fincher's films, Se7en and The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo especially. Fincher's shots are brilliant, and the cinematography for the film (I don't know if he has the same cinematographer for all his films) helps to really give a haunting life to his visuals. The fog, the darkness, all of it adds up to create an amazing setting. San Francisco becomes a character itself, as the Zodiac killer tightens his grip around the city.
I love that in each onscreen murder there are different actors playing Zodiac. Each actor was chosen based on descriptions supplied by those that either survived the individual attacks or saw someone suspicious around the location of the crime scene; by the time the film is over we have quite a few different Zodiac interpretations. I think that was a brilliantly clever way of handling each case, and shows further evidence that the film isn't biased to any suspect and that further adds to the mystery of who Zodiac could be.
Yes, unreliable narrators everywhere... The real person played by Robert Downey Jr claimed he never met the author/narrator at the newspaper's offices, you know :)
On the other hand, the hero's opinion is completely biased towards Allen, as is the book on which the movie was based, and to me the only suspect talked about in the movie is Allen, with the boots scene a strong choice to say to the viewer 'ok it's him, but bureaucrats won't let us have him'.
The direction, the performance, cinematography and score are all exemplary. I remember at the time that quite a few critics thought Gyllenhall seemed out of his depth in the role, quite interesting observation when Graysmith is supposed to exactly be like that. He's a newspaper cartoonist that becomes obsessed with the Zodiac and is clearly out of his depth and Jake plays it beautifully.
The rest of the cast are excellent, RDJ is suitably colourful as Paul Avery and Ruffalo has never been better as Dave Toschi, great support from Anthony Edwards and actors that make up the rest of the roster all hit their marks more than competently. Also it's an example where C.G.I is used to enhance and tell the story not overwhelm and take over.
I'd agree it is more about one man's obsession than the actual Zodiac killer but to suggest a fictional cop thriller is a better examination of the Zodiac is ridiculous, Dirty Harry is a terrific film and Andrew Robinson is brilliant as the killer who has been written with the Zodiac killer in mind but Fincher's film really gets into the details and feels more like All The President's Men than a serial killer thriller. Fincher had made the definitive statement already he didn't want to do it again and Zodiac is pretty far removed from his 2nd film anyway.
I can't really give this film enough praise, this should be one of those films that just grows in appreciation and totally transcends it's initial poor box office reception, just like that other masterful journalistic film by Michael Mann The Insider, ignored by the Academy, I doubt Fincher will top this, if he doesn't make another film as good as Zodiac it won't be for lack of trying.
Yes, that is how it ends.
I watched part of a documentary on the killings that featured Mageau, and I have to say: he just seemed a bit..."off." It could be that he experienced brain damage from the wounds attributed to the shots he took from the Zodiac's gun, or maybe the bullet that entered his ear and went out his jaw affected his speech. Here he is if anyone is interested, starting at around the 19 minutes 40 seconds mark. Make of him what you will:
And if Mageau was brought in at such a later time, that may have affected his ability to judge what this shooter in the dark looked like years and years previous. Also, the stamp DNA plays in with it, as well.
I don't think Hurdy Gurdy Man can be heard the same again after Fincher's use of it in Zodiac, incidentally British film maker Ben Wheatley uses a cover of that very song to a similar brutal effect in one of the best film's of last year, the utterly hilariously brilliant Sightseers.
Yeah, Fincher doesn't pull a Kubrick, but it does change how you look at the song after watching the film. I must say though, that song is creepy without Zodiac. There is just something haunting about it that gets you.
Interestingly, the letters at one place: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Zodiac_Killer_letters
I have an issue of Cinefex that details the recreating of the 1970's San Francisco; Dirty Harry was used extensively as a reference for the films visual style.