It's interesting to see how director David Fincher has evolved as a filmmaker over the last 20 years. Initially blamed in 1992 for the misfire that was "Alien 3" he made the (arguably) definitive serial killer movie "Se7en" in 1995. Movies like "Fight Club", "The Social Network" and the upcoming adaptation of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" just helped cement his status as a diverse and talented director. But in my opinion there is one movie in his filmography that often gets overlooked and that film is "Zodiac".
Upon its release in 2007 Fincher hadn't made a feature length film in almost 5 years so people were excited to see him back as a director and have him also return to the genre that made him famous, the serial killer thriller. But while critics mostly gave out favorable reviews the general public dismissed "Zodiac" with an underwhelming gross of just $33 million in the US. What happened?
"Zodiac" is the true story of how journalists and the police tried to track down the Zodiac killer who haunted San Francisco in the late 60s and early 70s. Just like in his other masterpiece "Se7en" Fincher focuses on the detectives and sleuths instead of the killer but the approach is very different. While "Se7en" had two main characters in Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman the audience could emotionally connect with, "Zodiac"'s focus constantly shifts from wannabe detective Jake Gyllenhaal to reporter Robert Downey Jr., inspector David Toschi and a couple others. This gives the film an almost documentary feel with great attention to detail. There are no unnecessary subplots, the main purpose is to document the obsessive work behind the case. The actual killings are almost insignificant to the overall story as they only serve as catalysts for the main protagonists. Not to give anything away but the Zodiac case was never solved.
I think the main reason for the film's poor box office was the audience's expectation of a second "Se7en". Of course, if you watch "Zodiac" with the hope to see another gore based serial killer film you will most likely be disappointed. But taking it for what it is, a very precise reworking of the Zodiac case and by that an exciting dedication to people's fascination for puzzle solving, this movie will be worth your time.
I heard criticisms that the performances were lacking emotional depth and the movie was too slow paced. In my opinion that couldn't be more wrong. As I said before there are no subplots distracting from the grand topic of solving the case so the performances are all precise and realistic, especially Mark Ruffalo as inspector David Toschi is great in his role. And the slow pace? Nowhere to be found, the dialogue-driven scenes create tension and excitement in an old-school way that probably doesn't translate well to the visually overfed crowd of brain dead "Transformers" fanboys.
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