Zodiac

That basement scene is one of the most intense, terrifying, and breath-taking moments I've ever experience. It's all implication but the way that Fincher frames it and formulates it causes such a dizzying effect on the viewer, because by that point in time, the film has captured in you in its snare and you, yourself have just become as obsessed with finding the truth. Zodiac wastes no time with getting started. You witness brutality with none of the Hollywood's glamour (so to say) of murder or death. When attacks happen they are quick, brutal, and nonchalant. There is no musical queue to tell you how to feel or what to think. You witness cruelty on full display, but it never lavishes in its display of taking away life. It is presenting it in a matter-of-fact way. Some of these scenes really took my breath away because of how it is filmed. Serial killer films have a way of showing you up front the death and depravity of these killers but with Zodiac it isnt anything like that. There isn't someone you can attach these atrocities to (though there are heavy implications, and in my opinion one that I believe). Fincher shows you violence as it is in real life. That's the true distressing reality of witnessing intense barbarity. One of the more important aspects when discussing Zodiac is the theme of obsession. All three major players in the film deal with their own demons in the form of obsession. The more obvious one is Jake Gyllenhaal's character, Robert Graysmith, whose position takes the narrative in the second half of the film. He is someone who intrigued by the Zodiac killer and his cryptic letters to becoming someone who doing the heavy lifting of the investigation four years after Zodiac disappears. We see Gyllenhaal's house littered with papers, clippings, and anything else that will help him get closer to finding Zodiac. It's apparent the effect it's having on him and his family as it becomes his driving force and what keeps him going as the cartoonist job becomes more of a secondary concern in his life. Gyllenhaal even brings his daughter to a meeting with Mark Ruffalo's character David Toschi to discuss more details of the case. Robert Downey Jr's character, Paul Avery, is a journalist who is covering the Zodiac case and becomes more intertwined with it and his drinking problem. Downey begins to bleed his work into his crutch of drinking and the two become so married that it prevents him from being able to write. He becomes his own downfall with the obsession of booze and anything else to help him get through the day. Mark Ruffalo's character, David Toschi, is the classic type of obsessed detective trying to do what's right in capturing this killer. Ruffalo always on call for the job and will go anywhere to get a clue or any piece of evidence. He needs to capture Zodiac to put his mind at ease. Its all the obsessions with the case that take their lives in different directions and watching it all play out is fascinating to say the least. Zodiac is one of the finest crime drama mysteries ever made. It top notch perfection in all aspects. It masterfully tackles a real life event and boils it down to nearly three hours of cinematic idealism. Making every scene count and all the breaks in the case more gripping. It might also help that this film is tethered to reality because Zodiac and it's events are as real as a film can get when telling a narrative story, so real in fact, that the case reopened after the film was released. When the credits roll it feels like the end of a journey, one filled to the brim with twists and turns, but there's nothing better than getting out of a film as good as this one.