ZODIAC

Working from a literate script by James Vanderbilt, director David Fincher has crafted an absorbing drama with his latest film Zodiac. This is not a serial killer film, but a movie about the investigation itself and its effects on those who were obsessed with finding the Zodiac killer in San Francisco. It’s fascinating, textured, compelling stuff, with great central performances by Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo.

Gyllenhaal plays Robert Graysmith (the real-life author of the book that is one of the key sources for the screenplay), an editorial cartoonist who finds himself drawn into an unofficial search of his own for Zodiac. Downey Jr. is Paul Avery, alcoholic crime writer at the same newspaper, playing the part with the obvious relish of a solid character actor. And Ruffalo is magnetic, believable, and borderline tragic as Inspector Toshi, doggedly pursuing multiple leads and blind allies for many years. The narrative centres around these three individuals, and how they cope with the bleak, lengthy, and ultimately unsolved mystery of the Zodiac killer, who haunted the San Francisco area starting in 1966. The killer writes letters to the local newspapers that include coded messages and begins taunting the police, launching the labyrinthine investigation that spans three decades. The film details the complexity of the search for the Zodiac in convincing, but never overwhelming, detail, and emphasizes the grueling passage of time with the use of context-setting subtitles that show the place and date in relation to the previous scene (“2 weeks later”, for example). The agonizing pace of the investigation, the frustration of the dead-end leads, and the emotional toll this took on the principal investigators is brilliantly portrayed in the film.

Zodiac’s attention to detail and historical accuracy is remarkable. Even a brief review of some of the accounts of the crimes reveals that the film sticks closely to the facts. In the first murder, for example, the killer returns to the car after shooting the victims, and shoots them again. (For a fascinating review of the case, see http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/zodiac/river_1.html). The production design, set decoration, and costume design effectively recreate a period ’70s setting, without loudly announcing the fact. There is undoubtedly a subtle, complex art to creating a period feel, especially one set in this decade, that does not garishly distract from the story.

Though this is first and foremost a character drama and a mystery, and not a suspense thriller, the actual Zodiac killings are shown and are frightening in their bleak authenticity. Fincher shoots these sequences from the point of view of the victims, with ominous close and medium shots, allowing tension to quietly build before exploding into shock at the stark, cold brutality of the murders.

Zodiac features a brilliant artistic use of digital effects. Using digital camera moves by Matte World Digital, there are several aerial shots of 1970s San Francisco that are beautifully rendered and detailed, giving a genuine sense of place. Digital effects are used to recreate a period cityscape, with historically accurate buildings and freeway. The panoptic matte shots are so incredibly detailed and constructed that they don’t announce themselves as effects shots. They just add to the authentic setting and help advance the narrative and thematic elements. In one astonishing sequence--digitally rendered--the camera follows a Yellow Cab on the streets of the city, appearing to be locked into place on the car’s orientation, shifting as the vehicle turns street corners. Another inspired sequence shows the time lapsed construction of the Transamerica building, a lithe pyramidal structure that assembles itself before our eyes, giving the feel of time passing on in the city as the Zodiac investigation proceeds ever onwards. Perhaps the most unique visual effect is a short sequence that shows the mountain of clues, leads, and dead ends that accumulate on the case by having the characters walk through settings that are draped and ornamented with written text from the case files. Though it’s not an effects picture per se, the effects team on Zodiac has done stellar work, in a signature example of how to use digital effects in the service of story.

Zodiac is not for those in search of cheap thrills. It is a complex, intelligent character drama, and an often remarkable document of one of the great unsolved serial murder investigations.

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Directed by David Fincher

Written by James Vanderbilt

Based on the book by Robert Graysmith

Starring:
Jake Gyllenhaal...Robert Graysmith
Mark Ruffalo...Inspector David Toschi
Anthony Edwards...Inspector William Armstrong
Robert Downey Jr....Paul Avery
Brian Cox...Melvin Belli
John Carroll Lynch...Arthur Leigh Allen
Chloë Sevigny...Melanie

300

300 is a bombastic, stentorian, and vivid fantasy, esurient for the gory glory of ancient battlegrounds in all their blood-spattering, limb-slicing detail, and punctuated with operatic speechifying about combat, death, and freedom. And yeah, it's a blast.

Based on an actual story from ancient history, 300 tells the tale of King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) of Sparta leading 300 Spartan warriors, against the decrees of the rulers of Sparta, to stop the rampaging Persian army with a last stand at a narrow cliff pass in the Battle of Thermopylae. Frank Miller, famous for Sin City, wrote the 300 graphic novel, and the film adaptation uses Miller's work as source and template, sometimes duplicating frames from the book.

The cliched and superfluous narration should have been cut, but the lean narrative works as a spare action fantasy, though the cross-cutting between the battle and Spartan politics in the last third of the film doesn't entirely work. There's no depth here, of course, and the dialogue is often layered with cheese ("Tonight we dine in Hell!") and delivered at earsplitting volume. We're not talking subtlety here, obviously, but the film succeeds on a primal, visceral level, and the hyper-visual stylization results in several beautiful sequences. The film is shot almost as a digital watercolour, with mocha skies and dark, vivid reds in the Spartan capes and copious blood that spatters artfully across the screen. The visual style almost makes the film into a science fiction fantasy that was shot on some alien world (it's easy to imagine it as akin to an R-rated film version of Burrough's A Princess of Mars) but it is an effectively dreamlike rendering of an ancient tale of blood and thunder.

Director Zack Snyder captures the fighting sequences well, slowing and speed-ramping key action, so that we can admire the combat form of the Spartan soldiers. There's no coy cutting away of sword or spear thrusts, either. In 300 the carnage that bladed weapons wrought is front and centre, with swords slicing off limbs and heads and cutting flesh in an elaborate montage of mayhem. This is definitely a film for those especially keen on decapitation.

The film does stray into oddball-fantasy, almost like David Lynch meets the sword-and-sandal genre. Persian King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) is a humanoid alien, with lidless black eyes, body adorned with sinuous jewelry like something from a Clive Barker story. Also lurching into the frame during the battle sequences are golden-masked Persian soldiers; squat, toadlike executioners with blades for hands; and a bald, freakish troll-giant who is unchained to wreak havoc. Clearly this is not a documentary; this is Lynch's Dune meets Gladiator by way of Cronenberg/Barker.

The cast is effective, but it is Gerard Butler who will benefit most from appearing in this film. Always teetering on the verge of a breakthrough, Butler plays Leonidas with great verve and gusto, and 300 should finally punch him through into some major leading roles.

Though a bit loud and overdone at times and undeniably shallow, 300 is a unique, stylish and effectively visceral cinematic experience.

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Directed by Zack Snyder
Written by Zack Snyder & Kurt Johnstad and Michael Gordon
Based on the graphic novel by Frank Miller and Lynn Varley

Starring:
Gerard Butler...King Leonidas
Lena Headey...Queen Gorgo
Dominic West...Theron
David Wenham...Dilios
Andrew Tiernan ... Ephialtes
Rodrigo Santoro ... Xerxes

James Bond 'Ultimate Editions': Random Thoughts, Part 2

My goodness, Live and Let Die is bad. I have fond memories of watching this, Roger Moore's Bond debut, on British TV back in the late '70s and thoroughly enjoying it. Catching up with this on the Ultimate Edition DVD, I'm struck by how thoroughly pedestrian the film looks. The photography and direction are subpar, on the level of your average '70s TV show, and the whole affair is played so lightly that the movie threatens to float away. Moore is bland and forgettable as Bond, and the portrayal of 007 edges further afield from Ian Fleming's conception. Even the speed boat chase, which I recalled as a highlight, is boringly staged, with director Guy Hamilton's annoying insistence on throwing in dumb gags -- moronic Sherrif J.W. Pepper; an old fart driving too slow in a truck; a speedboat demolishing the cake at a wedding; etc. The film lacks any sense of danger or true excitement. I couldn't even finish watching the damn thing. Another treasured childhood movie memory bites the dust.

Anyway, Volume 3 of the Ultimate Edition Bond DVDs has two true 007 classics: From Russia With Love and On Her Majesty's Secret Service. The former is my favourite Bond film of all, and holds up remarkably well still, especially in this new, gorgeous, digitally-restored transfer. From Russia With Love has Connery, in his second Bond outing, in top form, and a story that sticks relatively close to the Fleming novel, while adding some elements unique to the movie Bond, such as the famous one-liners. From Russia With Love features actual espionage work and boasts a superb supporting cast, especially Robert Shaw as the lethal Grant, Lotte Lenya as Rosa Klebb, complete with a poisoned dagger in her shoe, and Pedro Armendiaz as 007 ally Kerim Bay. The fight between Bond and Grant on the train is truly one of the greatest fight sequences ever filmed. Young shot it with two cameras in an extremely confined space, and Connery and Shaw did almost all of the sequence. The result is brilliant cinema. The film succeeds as a stylish, memorable thriller, not just as a Bond movie, and it's a shame that director Terence Young didn't return for the third 007 flick.

OHMSS is the odd sheep of the 007 film family, with George Lazenby's sole turn as 007, unluckily following in the footsteps of mega-popular Sean Connery. Lazenby had no acting experience, and it shows, but he does remarkably well for such an amateur in a large-scale production. The film is arguably the most faithful adaptation of an Ian Fleming novel, and for once there is the sense of a story being told and not the joining of dots between set pieces. The narrative is involving, the photography beautiful and lush and wide in scope, and the editing sharp in the excellent action sequences. Add to this an emotional finale with Bond marrying Tracy (Diana Rigg), and the result is one of the very best 007 films. The UE DVD does the film superb justice, showcasing the lush colours and epic scope beautifully. This is truly the best I have ever seen this film looking on home video.

OK, now it's time to offer some positive commentary for once on a Roger Moore Bond film. For Your Eyes Only is a welcome return to Ian Fleming minimalism. Though sometimes pedestrian, the script ties in narrative elements from several short stories in the titular source book, and features a more ruthless, world-weary Bond. Moore, quoted in interviews as disliking the toughening up of the character for this film, actually plays the part well, doing some of his best work. Though the film is marred by a dire comedic coda, overall this is the best film of the Moore era, and a welcome course-correction for the series after the atrocious 007 comedy Moonraker.