While the world is currently gripped by the Hogwarts
spells cast by J.K. Rowling's final book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows",
forty years ago residents in the Northern California cities of Vallejo, Napa and
San Francisco were gripped not with fever, but terror, as a killer calling
himself the "Zodiac" was on the loose, methodically murdering unsuspecting
people one by one. Tomorrow, David Fincher's film, released in March this
year in theaters in the U.S. and Canada, will arrive on DVD shelves across North
America.
One of the best films of the year, "Zodiac" stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo
and Robert Downey, Jr. and is littered with tremendous detail as it hews
verbatim to the events described in former San Francisco Chronicle
political cartoonist Robert Graysmith's books Zodiac and Zodiac
Unmasked. Too bad however, that the DVD itself is not littered with
detail. Paramount released a threadbare edition of the DVD (consisting of
the film, with a couple of previews attached), but the good news is that the
quality of the transfer to 2:3:1 widescreen format is pristine, keeping intact
the greenish, brown caramel, and stark golden hues that permeate Harris Savides'
cinematography. The visuals are clear, clean and sharp, with no bleed
over. When utilizing an HDMI cable, the visuals are even more appealing.
The audio channels for the film's sound are good, although they are muted in
certain scenes. Still, there are good jolts during the early parts of the
film, and the sound quality of the discrete 5.1 surround is best when these
jolts occur.
The soundtrack to the film, the soul sounds and rock beats of 1960's and 1970's
America, resonate clearly if quietly through the channels, whether it be
Santana's "Soul Sacrifice" that plays over the opening credits, or Three Dog
Night's "Easy To Be Hard" that begins the film, or Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man".
The age-old saying is that "the devil is in the details", and that most
definitely applies in the film's following of the actual events in the real-life
case of one of America's most notorious (and yet uncaught) serial killers.
The visual warmth and coldness of the scenes -- the austere, almost heavenly
glow of the Chronicle offices where Mr. Gyllehaal's Graysmith character
works, along with Mr. Downey's Chronicle reporter character Paul Avery; the grim
brownish interiors of Graysmith's home, especially when submerged in the details
of the killer -- are the biggest attraction of the DVD. The
production design values (thanks to Donald Graham Burt) are impeccable here, and
while watching in the theater such a densely-detailed film may have actually
made it difficult to notice them at all. On DVD however, every last detail
is rendered, from the early sweeping shot across the bay and over San
Francisco's Ferry Building, the intricate look at the offices of the
Chronicle, the interiors of a television studio, the corridors of offices,
the exteriors of a Mister Ed's diner seen early on. Even an overhead look
at the Golden Gate Bridge provides detail and authenticity, even if the bridge
briefly seen in the film is a model or a CGI or digital effect.
Fans of Mr. Fincher's past films will love the way "Zodiac" looks on DVD and the
story doesn't get lost or submerged or muted, nor does the cinematography.
"Zodiac" is a very strong film, one that will hold up for years to come on DVD.
Next year, an added bonus
In sports the term for a losing team is, "wait until next year." Those who
admired "Zodiac" in the theater and may feel cheated by this otherwise
well-rendered DVD transfer of the film will have to wait until next year, where
the good news will be the release of a complete director's cut edition of
"Zodiac". The film, whose original theatrical release clocks in at two
hours and 37 minutes (every minute is required for its close attention to
detail), will obviously be a little longer in next year's DVD edition, and will
come complete with all-new interviews of the living major participants in the
actual "Zodiac" case, plus a director's audio commentary, which Jake Gyllenhaal
and Robert Downey, Jr. will also participate in, plus other materials related to
the case.
All in all, tomorrow's "Zodiac" DVD release (pictured at the top of the page) is
consistent with exactly what David Fincher's great film specializes in: just the
facts.
