Zodiac (2007, USA)

Though David Fincher’s Zodiac covers similar ground as many of his previous films – murder, psychosis, obsession – it’s somewhat more human. This is the closest thing to a character piece that the director has made, but it lacks the suspenseful bent of earlier films such as Se7en and Panic Room. In part, this may be because Fincher's new film is based on real events and people surrounding the 1970’s investigation into Northern California’s famed Zodiac Killer. Since the Zodiac was never captured, there’s little fodder here for the tight cat-and-mouse sequences that Fincher is so good at (even early in his career, as in Alien 3). Instead, the film takes a more episodic approach, following the detectives and reporters who were at the center of the Zodiac hunt, and only occasionally dipping into recreations of the Zodiac’s crimes.

Part of the problem inherent in making movie like this one (or The Black Dahlia, or Summer of Sam), is that in most cases, the events of and around the murders are so well-known that little is left to the filmmaker but to set the camera in the right places. The Zodiac mystery is particularly troublesome for a filmmaker not only because the killer was never found (the catharsis of the catch is denied), but because event stretched out over the course of a decade. Thus, the film stretches out, too – though it’s not quite three hours long, its episodic nature (complete with consistent, detail-oriented title cards) makes it feel terribly drawn out. It’s as if Fincher didn’t want to leave anything out – there are even two full-screen text panels before the final credits roll.

With a little judicious editing, Zodiac could have been a much more compelling film. As is, it’s interesting to see a director of such technical proficiency branch out a bit, and Fincher captures good performances from his male-heavy cast, particularly Mark Ruffalo. (Though he doesn’t work with women often, I think two the most sucessful performances in Fincher films have come from Jodie Foster and Sigourney Weaver.) But if the film is supposed to be suspenseful or frightening, it fails on both counts, and it lacks both the tightness of a true procedural drama or the substance of a character ensemble. In short, Zodiac isn’t quite sure what kind of film it’s supposed to be.