Zodiac Director's Cut review & discussion

Great review, Nick. I can't stand Fincher's previous work but this movie won me over. I would have never pegged him as a guy who was capable of telling a story in such a direct and fascinating way. One of my favourites of the year.

Wait, so this has the theatrical and the director's cut? I thought Fincher had said this set would only have the director's version.

Jesus Christ, I forgot all about this movie. Ugh, I feel dirty now, like I'm one of "those members of the movie-going public".

Ah, I read "second DVD" and missed the "release" part.

That review makes me glad I held off on the theatrical disc. Sounds like a great film got even better.

Weird. I did the same thing and had to read the sentence twice before getting it.

By the by, great movie, great review, Nick.

Fantastic review, Nick.

Looks like this is definitely going on my 'to buy' list.

I had rented the original on Blu-ray over the summer and I really enjoyed it (with the intent to purchase at some point). Unfortunately I didn't realize that this movie was released by Paramount. So now since they are HD-DVD exclusive, I can't pick this new 2 disc set up in Blu-ray. Sigh, I'm so sick of this HD format crap.

Nice screen caps. I've got to pick this up when it gets released.

Great review, Nick. And the Brian Cox screen cap is gold as always.

It's a fucking crime how this masterpiece was overlooked by everyone.

I have the HDDVD preordered on Amazon. Fincher's commentaries are great. I made sure to not get the first release of the DVD knowing something like this would be coming out.

EDIT: Oh, and an awesome review!

You lucky son of a bitch Nick to get to be reviewing movies like this. Sadly I'm a victim of the HD format war too, as I want this too in HD, but blu ray preferred.

I just pre-ordered this from Barnes and Noble, and thanks to the gift card I got for Christmas, this bad boy is mine for $1.05.

I thought Amazon would've sent this to me by now so that I would've gotten it today or tomorrow.

Turns out they won't ship it till the 14th!? The hell they will!!!! Why is this happening to me!?

I have the same problem with El Tati. I have to fucking pay through the nose for some of the better editions and considering my lack of much disposable income it's pretty prohibitive. It's so bad in fact that I still haven't seen the director's cut of Kingdom Of Heaven.

One of the top three of 2007 for me. I never thought 2 1/2 hours of people talking across desks could be so engrossing. This is the film that really shows that Fincher's got real substance to go with the style, and he makes it look effortless.

Watching this again, I don't think Anthony Edwards ever gets nearly as much credit as he deserves. Half of why Ruffalo is so great is because he has an amazing (for lack of a better word) straight man.

I picked up one of these for myself last night and one as a late Christmas present for a friend. Great review, Nick. This was my favorite film of 2007, so I can't wait to spread it around and ensure that more people see it.

With the fact that I could easily get it faster at a store and the added negative of HDDVD losing the format war, I cancelled my order at Amazon and just rented the damn thing.

This film is even better the 2nd time. I have to admit, while totally engrossing, the film left me cold the first time I saw it. I wasn't expecting to have warm fuzzies at the end, nor did I expect them to catch the Zodiac. I think I just had to check my expecations of Fincher's filmmaking.

I've been falling asleep during movies like crazy due to fatigue. But I didn't fall asleep during this. Not even nodding off. At all. Utterly engrossing.

The HDDVD looks AMAZING. The digital cinematography... I don't have words to describe the way it feels. It just feels right and never does it feel like 'video'.

And having just watched the visual effects feature on the 2nd disc... I know Transformers will most likely win the Visual Effects Oscar (since those robots were amazing), but goddamnit, GIVE THE OSCAR TO THE VISUAL EFFECTS OF ZODIAC! Give it to the film with amazing visual effects that's also a great movie!!!

Knowing Fincher's filmmaking habits, I figured there would be a lot of hidden visual effects in the film. The opening shot of San Fransisco? Of course that had to be touched up. But never did I imagine that the whole thing was created. There was subtle bluescreen work even in the most mundane scenes of dialogue. It was a handheld shot too. Never once did I think about visual effects during that scene. It's that good.

I assume that this'll come out on Blu-ray at some point?

Just ordered this from Amazon as I couldn't find it at the local Best Buy, FYE, or Borders. Just as well, I probably saved myself a few bucks, even with shipping added. Don't know if I can hold out for the 2 weeks it'll probably take to get here though. I purposely held off buying the first release knowing that eventually this would be dropped. I haven't seen it since August - and that was the 5th viewing, as I saw it 4 times during its theatrical run.

Very rarely does a movie have me immediately from the get-go, but those first few minutes of Zodiac (the camera swooping down of San Francisco, the drive down the suburban street during the 4th of July, Three Dog Night playing over the soundtrack) had me mesmerized and the spell was kept for nearly 3 hours. I love this movie. By far Fincher's best work.

So it's not just me. I tried Best Buy, two Targets, Costco and Circuit City looking for this sumbitch, and none of them had any love for the standard DVD release. It's like Paramount doesn't want people to buy this release.

I'll order it online, but I needed instant gratification for my Fincher jones.

I had to go thru FOUR places to find a copy of this goddamn movie, but I finally got it.

Are you guys talking about the HD version or the standard 2 disc version?

I was talking about the standard version. Here in DC, I went by two Borders, they had zero copies. I went to one best buy, nothing. I ended up running errands near another best buy in VA, went in and there were literally four copies sitting unceremoniously on the new releases shelf.

In response to someone up in the thread about Edwards, it's nice to see how much they all laud him on the commentary, talking about how Fincher told them to just learn from him. The more I've seen this movie, the more Ruffalo and his scenes stand out in an effortless, subdued way. This movie is greatness.

I just watched this last night for the first time since the theater, and thankfully it's still the best damn thing of 2007. I didn't notice the director's cut additions, aside from the very effective "skipping time through sound bites" sequence.

I watched it with a friend who was hesitant to see the movie because the trailer didn't do anything for him. He ended up really liking it and being totally engrossed. I don't think that trailer did the box office any favors.

Weird. With the recent HDDVD developments, I thought it possible that stores wouldn't carry the HDDVD version. But to not carry the standard version? Ridiculous.

Granted, this movie is a hard sell. But you could tell they were straining to make it look a lot more sensational in the trailers by the way they always milked the creepy scene in the basement.

This film could've really benefited from being released during awards time. People are going to see No Country and Juno. This film could've gotten those kinds of audiences. Zodiac came out when even I wasn't going to see anything in theaters. It may have been my first theater visit of 2007.

I thought the 'soundbite time skip' was in the theatrical version. It didn't stand out as something new. Perhaps it was just longer? Am I imagining things?

Standard 2 Disc. I was in Best Buy and didn't see it anywhere and I was about to give up when I saw it out of the corner of my eye. Ran over and grabbed it (it was the last copy), relieved and smiling, when I took about 5 steps and realized it was the HD version. I almost threw the fucking thing across the store.

I'd like to note that each of the four stores I went to did not carry the director's cut of Zodiac, but had plenty of copies of DRAGON FUCKING WARS.

That scene by the lake is still one of the most unnerving things I've ever seen, even knowing what's coming.

That fucking scene haunted me for days. It really felt like I just saw a snuff film. What's even worse is that it seemed like we spent time with this couple forever before the Zodiac even showed up. It was agonizing.

I watched all the special features and then wanted to go back and just watch the Arthur Leigh Allen interrogation scene which I had recalled being basically my favorite when I originally saw this. I ended up just watching the entire movie. Oddly enough, it felt even shorter than when I saw it in theaters. It was also quite a different experience from when I first saw it, since at the time I basically knew nothing about Zodiac other than that he killed people, and watching it again after having both seen the film and the documentaries on disc two, it was like I was an expert on the case. I can't recall seeing a movie again with such a different mindset, yet it did absolutely nothing but enhance an already great film. I already feel like I want to watch it over again.

Another scene of visual effects I never even suspected!!!

I just watched this through for the second time since buying this DVD, and I love that Robert Downey Jr. made up that little move where he stepped in front of the cab all slow and deliberately to pick his notebook up after Ruffalo knocked it out of his hand. Fincher does great commentaries, I like how he just shrugs off all the criticisms of his style, like in the comments about how "Fincher couldn't help himself' with the sequence where the Zodiac writing was showing up on the walls, even though he didn't have much to do with it.

Well, SOMEONE had to approve of such visual effects. HE'S to blame!!! Blame for it all!!!

Cool sequence. Film probably didn't really need it to do that though. It was a little more show-offy than the rest of the film (with the exception of the basement sequence).

Mcnooj, why do you hate David Fincher so?!?!??!

This thing is paced so well for a nearly three-hour long film. Graysmith walks into the hardware store and I literally had to look at the clock to make sure the time had passed.

Because he doesn't make films frequently enough for my tastes!!

Actually, I would've loved to see what he would've done with MI3. But that's just me imagining a Mission Impossible movie with Fight Club/Panic Room camera moves. That's just lazy of me.

It's actually a good thing he took his time in looking for a project that excited him. We got Zodiac, didn't we?

Really? I think the film feels long, but in the way Fincher intended. He wanted the audience to feel the sheer exhaustion that Toschi must've felt and I think he totally succeeded. The film feels long, but you're engrossed the whole time.

I'm appreciating the film more and more now that I've seen it again. It flew by the 2nd time and it was just as engrossing.

NEWT!

But not in the dick. Since you're actually watching the film, I'm more forgiving. I'm actually watching it now too.

EDIT: There is no CG work in this! Shup up before I punch you in the dick!!!

Make sure to support CHUD by buying it through their links!!!

There's a lot of shots in this where Anthony Edwards reminds me of Kevin Costner in JFK.

Bought through CHUD, watched it last night, watched the two docs on the facts, which are both great for special features. Zodiac really is great - saw the theatrical release cut a couple times last spring. The additions in this cut aren't huge, but they're pretty cool. The sound montage is pretty great. Not sure I understand why it was cut, I guess it could be confusing to general audiences.

"Who better than me?

...

... the marked man..."

Did we lose the post-release thread for this movie? Damn.