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DVD Review:

Zodiac

2-disc Director's Cut

          
     
             

Movie

When Zodiac came out in the theaters I was really mad that I didn't get a chance to see it. I am a big fan of David Fincher who directs this movie. He is responsible for films like Fight Club and Se7en. Who better to handle a film about a serial killer than Fincher, who did such an amazing job with Se7en. This movie is about a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay area in the 60's. What made this serial killer unique was how he used the media. He would regularly send letters to the San Francisco Chronicle with syphers in them. The case went pretty stale until a cartoonist at the paper took it upon himself to try and figure out who the Zodiac was. This movie was a surprise for me. I was surprised how much I liked it. It's not about gory murders like Se7en, it's more about the characters and the constant battle between the police trying to solve the cases and the Zodiac killer. It rates up there as one of my top movies of this year.


9 out of 10
               
   

Video


Having not seen the original disc I can't comment on whether the transfer here has been upgraded. But what I can say is that the transfer presented here is beautiful. The cinematography in this film is nothing short of amazing. The transfer does a great job of showing you all the subtitles in the picture. This film is definitely not a colourful film, but Fincher does an excellent job of filling the frame with well chosen details and colour choices. The blacks are definitly very black and there are a lot of shadows and the transfer does a great job with all of this.


9 out of 10


Audio

The sound design in this movie has been brought to life with a great 5.1 track. There are moments of silence that really add to the suspense. There are some scenes where classic rock can be heard playing in the background. The dialogue is clear and the music is mixed well, so as to not overpower the dialogue.


8.5 out of 10
     
     
     

Extras

Here is what you get in the way of extras:

  • Commentary by Director David Fincher, Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Producer Brad Fischer, James Vanderbilt and James Ellroy
  • Zodiac Deciphered: The Making of Zodiac
  • The Visual Effects of Zodiac
  • Sequence Breakdowns: Blue Rock Springs; Lake Berrvessa; San Francisco
  • This is the Zodiac Speaking: An in-depth look at the attacks of the Zodiac killer
  • Prime Suspect: A chilling look at the prime suspect in the Zodiac case
This is a 2-disc edition.. My favorite extra has to be "Zodiac Deciphered: The Making of Zodiac" This is a very well done documentary of the making of the film. I really enjoyed this and I find personally the whole Zodiac lore very interesting. Another feature I liked was the Visual Effects of Zodiac because when watching this movie you would think there is not very much in the way of special effects. So this feature tells you how there were 90 special effects shots used. They also talked about how overhead shots were accomplished without the use of helicopters. I also really liked Prime Suspect. This goes into more details about Arthur Leigh Allen with interviews of people who knew him. Plus there is an excellent commentary by David Finsher with only the occasional patch of silence.

9.5 out of 10
           
           
           

Overall

I really liked this DVD and it is one of my favorites of 2007. You get an amazing movie, an excellent transfer and audio track. The bonus features included are all excellent and really add to the film. This is an excellent movie and an amazing story. I think that if anyone other than David Fincher directed this movie it could have turned out like one of those movies of the week, but instead we get an amazingly deep film and excellent visuals. This for me is a must buy!

Highly Recommended.