Zodiac: Awesome?

I've seen it twice already, and I'm about ready to state that David Fincher's Zodiac will probably become one of the best films of 2007. Now, I know what you're thinking. "Devin, it's far to early to be saying stuff like that" And who knows? Maybe Wes Anderson will finally put out a new movie this year. Maybe P.T. Anderson (the other white Anderson) will finally get his "Daniel Day-Lewis as an oil tycoon" picture off the ground. Maybe Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez' new project Grindhouse will be f*ckin' awesome (it will be).

But for now, Zodiac reigns. Everything about the film is stellar. Excellent performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, and Robert Downey Jr. Gripping script with really innovative dialogue and sequencing. Awesome music. And such an amazing attention to detail. Every setpiece is precise, every time period is accurately represented. Fincher even throws in an old school 70's "Paramount Pictures" logo at the start of the film.

In addition to the look of the film, Fincher obsesses over the information that is shown on the screen. Countless title cards flash throughout the film, giving us the exact date and place (and often the exact time) of the events that unfold. 911 calls are repeated verbatim from the original police transcripts. Evidence, newspaper clippings, television news segments. Every aspect of this bizarre case is pored over and, like Gyllenhaal's character (who is the author of the Zodiac books on which this film is based), the audience becomes obsessed with finding the truth.

But the truth is quite hard to obtain, and unfortunately, the police (and Graysmith) never seem to reach any concrete conclusions. The film seems to reflect this, as the nameless, faceless Zodiac killer is portrayed throughout the film by no less than three different actors, each picked because they were the actors who closely matched the description by eyewitnesses and survivors of each of the murders.

Now, please don't think I'm giving anything away by revealing this innovative choice of casting. It only adds to the ominous nature of the killer, and of the film itself. Trust me; no other movie in theaters is worth your time (all two-and-a-half hours of it) and your money to go see. And that's a fact.