Zodiac, 2007.
Directed by David Fincher.
Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, Donal Logue, John Carroll Lynch, and Dermot Mulroney.
SYNOPSIS:
David Fincher’s 2007 classic Zodiac makes its 4K Ultra HD debut in a new edition from Paramount that also includes the two Blu-ray discs that comprised the Director’s Cut release in 2009. I’m nearly certain the 4K disc serves up a remastered version of the film, but I’m not sure about the Director’s Cut. You also get a code for a digital copy as well as a second Blu-ray that’s packed with great extras. Highly recommended.
Growing up in New Jersey, I never experienced the kind of terror that people in the San Francisco Bay Area must have felt in the late 1960s, when the Zodiac Killer murdered several people and threatened to unleash even more mayhem, including against children. I pretty much just had to contend with urban legends, like the infamous Jersey Devil or the rumor that if you flashed your lights at an oncoming car with its headlights off at night, you would become the unwitting victim of some bizarre gang initiation.
The Zodiac Killer taunted the police and the media in a series of letters, going quiet before popping up again with a 1974 missive in which he claimed to have killed 37 people, which was never confirmed. Nor was his identity ever determined conclusively, although the police had a prime suspect who also gets a lot of attention in this classic David Fincher film from 2007, now out on 4K Ultra HD for the first time.
The story follows two pairs of characters based on real life people: San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.) and cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), who becomes fascinated with the case; and police inspectors Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards).
“Obsession” is the key theme here, as Graysmith goes beyond his job scope to investigate the murders and try to figure out the identity of the mysterious killer and Toschi does likewise. The story takes place over a 22-year period, as the hysteria over the Zodiac killings fades with his seeming disappearance and Armstrong requests a transfer to a less stressful department.
Avery is amused by Graysmith’s obsession with the case, which later led to him writing a book on the subject, but he has been fighting his own losing battle with various demons. Eventually, the plot winnows down to Toschi feeding Graysmith tidbits of info as the cartoonist keeps up his obsessive quest, much to the chagrin of his wife. In the end, as in real life, the movie takes a fairly definitive stance on who the Zodiac Killer was, but it also mirrors reality in the fact that nothing was ever conclusively proven.
This is a movie with some gorgeously moody cinematography, even in the daylight scenes, and that effect fully comes through in the remastered image available on this new 4K Ultra HD disc. (The packaging doesn’t say it was remastered, but I’ve read that director David Fincher has been working on 4K remasters of his movies, so I doubt Paramount would issue this one on the latest format without taking advantage of that.)
The result is a version of Zodiac that’s probably the definitive word on the movie, at least in terms of the picture quality. Fans likely won’t need to buy this one again, unless a later edition offers some compelling bonus features.
Speaking of which, the 4K Ultra HD platter found here offers up just the theatrical version of the movie sans any extras, which is good since the bit rate could be maximized. Yeah, a commentary track wouldn’t have taken up much room, but there are a pair of Blu-ray platters found here that offer plenty of supplements. You also get a code for a digital copy.
The first Blu-ray features a director’s cut of the movie that’s only about five minutes longer than the theatrical version; I’m not sure if it was remastered too. The extras on that disc consist of two commentary tracks, one with Fincher and the other serving up Gyllenhaal, Downey, Jr., producer Brad Fischer, writer James Vanderbilt, and author James Ellroy. Both are worthwhile listens that dig deep into various aspects of the movie and the real-life slayings and investigations that it depicts.
The other Blu-ray houses the bulk of the special features, with kick off with the three-part documentary titled The Film. Running a little over an hour, the bulk of it (54 minutes) consists of a nuts-and-bolts look at the history of the movie, starting with the Zodiac case and Graysmith’s book and following through to the production.
Another segment looks at the movie’s visual effects, which might surprise people since this isn’t a science-fiction or fantasy movie, but some computer-generated imagery had to be employed to complete the film’s period look. As anyone who grew up in the Bay Area in the 70s and 80s can tell you, it changed dramatically over the years. Complementing that part of the documentary is the third section, which compares three scenes’ previsualization sequences with their finished product.
Everything I just discussed would probably satisfy most fans, but Paramount went the extra mile by also including This is the Zodiac Speaking, which runs one hour, 42 minutes and digs deep into the case. I haven’t watched the three-part documentary of the same name on Netflix, so I don’t know if it’s the same one, although the one on Netflix runs a little over two hours total. Regardless of which one you watch, I imagine you will get more than your fill of Zodiac info.
The final extra is the 42-minute Prime Suspect, which puts its lens on Arthur Leigh Allen, the man that Graysmith and some others believed was the killer. That’s the direction Fincher’s film goes in too, but if you pay attention, you’ll note some inconsistencies between the killer depicted in the slayings and the way Allen is shown when he’s questioned by the authorities. That effect, of course, highlights the fact that eyewitness accounts of events, even crimes like the one the Zodiac committed, can vary slightly.
Arthur Leigh Allen died in 1992, so it’s likely we’ll never know definitively who the Zodiac Killer was and why he committed his crimes and taunted the police and news media.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Brad Cook
