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By
WAYNE KLEIN
On July 4th, 1969 I was
lighting firecrackers in Vallejo, California 6
miles away from where the second Zodiac murder
took place. It was a difficult time-the Summer of
Love along the Haight-Ashbury district had
degenerated into a hazy wash of drug dealers
peddling to Hippies that were descending into
junkies and Vallejo, California the town best
known for the Naval Base Mare Island and the city
where Raymond Burr was raised had a reputation as
a quiet town so our parents were shocked when news
of the murder rocked the town. It wasn't the first
murder in Vallejo but it was the unusual nature of
the murder itself; the killer who called himself
the Zodiac mailed ciphers to the San Francisco
Chronicle, Examiner and the Vallejo Times-Herald
threatening to go on a killer spree unless the
newspapers published his ciphers. He then taunted
the police and FBI in the Bay Area to try and
figure out his identity as he killed more people.
My brothers were teenagers at the time and as
further news of the Zodiac's body count increased
my parents were more nervous about what would
happen to my brothers after dark than whether or
not they were remembering to use rubbers.
David Fincher's new film captures that nervous
time extremely well in his new film "Zodiac".
Based on the book by former Chronicle cartoonist
Robert Graysmith, the film covers those obsessed
with catching the killer as well as the killer's
deeds themselves. Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal)
obsesses over the killer, his use of cryptology to
communicate. Graysmith becomes involved with the
police officer (Mark Ruffalo) and the writer
(Robert Downey Jr. who gives a perfect
performance) covering the case for the Chronicle.
Slowly Grarysmith finds that the Zodiac takes over
his life and he becomes more focused with finding
the man behind the mask and letters as the police
gradually give up on the case. With marvelous
supporting performances from Anthony Edwards,
Chloe Sevigny, Brian Cox, Fincher injects a film
that could have faltered because of the large time
span and the fact that the outcome is known (there
was a suspect identified but the police didn't
have enough evidence until much too late) into a
riveting if flawed film.
All the signs are here for a solid transfer from
Paramount-accurate flesh tones and a crisp looking
presentation with solid blacks. The audio is
nicely used creating an environment that will
creep you out if you listen to it in 5.1 with its
use of ambient effects. Shot with HD video camera,
the image does look a bit murky during some of the
darker scenes but overall looks quite good.
This edition is bare bones and comes only with
previews/trailers for other films. One of the
trailers though does advertise for a two disc
deluxe set that will have extensive extras on the
film and the case. I'd suggest waiting for that
deluxe edition and renting this edition.
A terrific film from director David Fincher
receives a nice looking presentation that has a
major flaw-no extras or commentary tracks. There
will be a deluxe edition later in early 2008. I'd
suggest waiting for that edition and renting this
in the meantime. |
