Unlike David Fincher’s other movies — say, Fight Club or Panic Room — Zodiac is generally a straightforward, no-tricks, procedural drama. If anything, you can say it’s quick moving, because the film covers about 20 years in about two-and-a-half hours. There’ll be a one minute scene and then the action will jump forward two weeks, or a month, or a year. But maybe I’m getting ahead of myself.
Zodiac tells the true story of the Zodiac killer, who is alleged to have killed about a dozen people in San Francisco starting in 1969 and was never caught. Actually, the film tells the story of the efforts by cops, reporters, and a newspaper cartoonist to figure out the Zodiac’s identity. And like I said, they never did solve the case conclusively, but thanks to cartoonist Robert Graysmith’s (Jake Gyllenhaal) efforts, they got very close. Actually, the Zodiac killer has already inspired a handful of movies, including Clint Eastwood’s original Dirty Harry, which featured a bad guy named “Scorpio” who also threatens to kill schoolchildren.
As you’d expect, this movie features a big cast of well-known actors (Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox, Philip Baker Hall, Donal Logue, Chloe Sevigny, Adam Goldberg, etc.), but I thought only Mark Ruffalo was worth noting for his performance. In those rare moments when the film sort of drags, his energy keeps it going. And Sevigny actually has a pretty thankless role as Graysmith’s wife. But no matter. Zodiac is generally a solid, entertaining film that doesn’t really feel as long as it is. That’s because it’s well-paced and even has a few suspenseful scenes. So I’m going to give it a B+.
All the pieces are in place for Fracture to be a solid, great popcorn thriller. There’s an interesting premise — a guy shoots his cheating wife and confesses to it, and yet, not all the pieces are in place for a conviction — and a great acting duo in the lead roles. There’s even the director of such films as Primal Fear and the underrated Frequency. And yet, despite a crackling first half, filled with some fun lines of dialogue, the wheels somehow come off and Fracture turns boring and somewhat predictable. I guessed the film’s twist (one of them anyway) pretty early on, for example. It’s enjoyable to see Anthony Hopkins chewing scenery, and Ryan Gosling (so good in Half Nelson) tries hard, but ultimately Fracture doesn’t make a strong enough case. And that’s why I’m only giving it a B–.
Martin's Musings 