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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. ---
Image & Sound:
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.
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