Zodiac Director's Cut :: DVD Review

I have seen David Fincher's Zodiac 3 times already. That's close to a 9 hour investment since the film has a run time of 2 hours and 45 minutes. As you can tell by the previous statement, I am a huge fan of this movie. Tuesday the Director's Cut 2 Disc DVD came out. Why the studios wait 6 months to give us the extras the first release did not have is beyond me. Well, that's not true, I do know why. They want you to buy the damn thing twice, but that's for another post.

After I sold my single disc copy of Zodiac on ebay... thank you ebay, I went out and purchased the 2 disc. It carries in it, the film with 5 more minutes, a behind the scenes documentary, commentary with Fincher, and 3 different specials with true zodiac victims and the police officers who were there and lived it. Those are are great features to compliment a really amazing film. The packaging on the discs could have been better, we waited 6 months. Some studios will give you something really creative that you can tell a design department had alot of fun creating. But this is a standard 2 disc plastic case with the traditional artwork wrap on the outside. The artwork is pretty cool, set up to look like one of the letters the zodiac mailed to the Chronicle. How cool would it have been if made from cardboard with some inserts and inside art, the potential was there, but I think the studio got cheap and just wanted to put the thing out on shelves. Sorry design department, good effort though.

The added 5 minutes were put back in very well. They did not need to be in the theatrical release, it stalls out the middle a bit, bringing the total time for the move to 2 hours and 50 minutes, (or right around). But for a huge fan of the first cut, the Director's cut was a great bonus. The scene most notably added was the one were Paul Avery goes to visit an informant about the killing of the girl back before the first reported zodiac killing and finds the writing on the desk. This leads authorities closer to Leigh Allen as suspect number 1. Was a very cool scene that they only lead into on the theatrical. It shows the visit and there is an intense interaction between Avery and Toschi.

This film is one of the best performed and directed of modern times. So much thought went to not only the characters and how they interact, the script, sets (they recreate 1970s San Fransisco with precise detail), direction, wardrobe that all Hollywoood movies can take note of this. They never did catch zodiac, to this idea, no one has ever been arrested. You'd think you might be bored already knowing the ending. This film defies that and does it with beautiful style. Not a typical look into the zodiac from the killer's eyes as so many really bad straight to dvd films have done. It is an intense look into how obsession consumed the minds of a few close to trying a catch the zodiac, fear of a city under siege never knowing what to expect, and how you may spend a lifetime looking for answers you may never get.

This is one of the ten best films I've ever seen and look forward to watching many more times. The film sends absolute chills down one's spine, which in my opinion is what he wanted. Getting attention for some of the crimes he committed, creating fear in our hearts, and capturing you in the obsession that keeps the zodiac alive almost 40 years later.

http://www.zodiacmovie.com/