Time Theft Nation

REVIEW: Zodiac (Movie)

David Fincher has a passion for taking advantage of defenseless people in his flicks. Aside from the opening scene, another that was exceptionally squirmful by a lake, and one with a botched flat tire, this was very good movie focused on the exhaustive length of solving a case.

The editing is expertly done, providing hourly time lines at first to move the story along, and eventually stretching those markers to multiple years at a time. One of the best edits shows the transformation of an era in American culture. My favorite shots in the movie were a brief second at the top of the Golden Gate Bridge and behind the cage of a squirrel in a trailer.

The real reason this movie excelled was the fact that it maintained the tension through its laborious two and a half hour run time, most notably at the climax of the movie, which will surely make you lose your breath (@ZillaRocca called it). The reason this works particularly well is Fincher’s ability to employ callbacks, like an exceptional stand-up comedian, throughout the film. There are numerous shots and bits of dialogue that reappear, making the detective in all of us happy for picking up on a key piece of information. The climax works particularly well due to this phenomena and thanks to Fincher’s tireless efforts to keep the viewer engaged.

The movie takes place over four decades, and there are very few times (I didn’t once) where you’d be inclined to check your watch. Much like AMC’s “The Killing”, which chronicles the death of Rosie Larsen, you are studying the human character of everybody involved with the case, at the expense of no Hollywood magic. I personally thought the first season of The Killing was remarkable, which took place over the first two weeks of the Rosie Larsen’s investigation, with each episode representing one day following the murder.

Since the case wasn’t solved in the first season, it was bashed by many fans, including the hypocritical Bill Simmons:

• His first post, Welcome to Grantland talks about how they wanted to break the mold of the late night talk show with Jimmy Kimmel. They wanted to change the rules and how they did over the course of that first year.
• His post on the finale of The Killing, 12 days after the Welcome to Grantland post, He says he feels cheated by the show because they didn’t give up the murderer in the first season, like any other detective show would, so he bashes the show and tweets it to his million followers.
  
  Translation: Bill Simmon’s thinks it’s really cool when he tries to change the mold, but when somebody does it to him, he throws a real big hissy fit.

Anyway, I really appreciate and I think you will too, when a director doesn’t leave anyone behind. I think you’ll really dig this movie and you should definitely check out The Killing, which returns for its second season on AMC, April 1st, 2012.