Review #1,471: 'The Sisters Brothers' (2018)

French filmmaker Jacques Audiard has made a name for himself by focusing on morally-conflicted lead characters surviving any way they can in an environment they have no real control over. Whether it be the brutal prison setting of A Prophet, the street brawls of Rust and Bone, or the Sri Lanka torn apart by civil war in Dheepan, Audiard seems most at home when tossing his lead character in the deep end and observing as the survival instincts inevitably kick in. There is perhaps no greater time and place to explore humanity at its most savage and uncivilised as the Wild West, so Audiard feels right at home among the shootouts, saloon fights and general lawlessness of his latest film, the curiously-titled The Sisters Brothers.

Based on the novel by Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers follows the titular siblings Eli (John C. Reilly) and Charlie (Joaquin Phoenix), two apparent opposites who seem to tolerate each other for their shared bloodline only. While their overall outlook on life couldn't be further apart, one skill the pair undoubtedly share is a knack for killing, and their exploits have granted them an almost mythical status throughout the land. They are hired killers in the employment of a shady businessman known only as the Commodore (Rutger Hauer), and their latest job is to track down and kill chemist Hermann Kermit Warm (Riz Ahmed), who has supposedly stolen from the old man. Their journey takes them from Jacksonville to San Francisco, but the mission is plagued by misfortune. Encountering everything from bear attacks to venomous spiders to rival hired hands, these mishaps allow plenty of time for the brothers to reflect on their life choices and their future, if they are ever to make it out alive.

As the elder of the brothers, Reilly's Eli hopes to eventually settle down and walk away from a life where death seems to await them at every turn. The drunken, unpredictable Charlie believes their lives couldn't get any better, and cannot imagine a world where his brother is not at his side. Little by little their backstories are revealed, and although he shares his younger sibling's flair for murder, it becomes clear that Eli's life would have turned out quite differently if he wasn't forced to pick up the pieces left in the wake of Charlie's destructive nature. The two actors are so good together that the film slows down when the action moves away from them, and more time is spent developing the relationship between Warm and softly-spoken private detective John Morris (Jake Gyllenhaal). Morris is actually working with the Sisters, but has a change of heart when Warm reveals his water-based formula that will potentially turn the tide for gold prospecting.

While these little detours slightly derail the film's pace, they prove intriguing enough in their own right. Despite the brutality of their surroundings and the natural hostility of the unexplored frontier, Warm and Morris are tidier, more articulate, and completely at odds with the survivalist nature of the anti-heroes of the title. They hint at a changing world, and the way the Old West is imagined by cinematographer Benoit Debie - shot in Spain - would be more at home with the auteur-driven revisionist westerns of the 1970s, but not so different to cause traditionalists to scoff. The key ingredients are all there: bursts of violence, whiskey-drenched brothel visits, and a long, perilous journey across country; but there is a sensitive, character-driven drama at its core. It was billed as a comedy of sorts upon its release, and although there are certainly laugh-out-loud moments, they serve only to reinforce the humanity lurking within its murky characters.


Directed by: Jacques Audiard
Starring: John C. Reilly, Joaquin Phoenix, Jake Gyllenhaal, Riz Ahmed, Rebecca Root, Rutger Hauer
Country: France/Spain/Romania/Belgium/USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,261: 'Brokeback Mountain' (2005)

It may now be 12 years old, but Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain, based on the short story by Annie Proulx, is still more relevant than ever. At the time of its release, the debate around gay marriage was raging, and continued to do so in the subsequent years. Thankfully, same-sex marriage is now practised in many countries across the world, although it would still be deemed a crime and a sin elsewhere. But anyone who thinks that the themes explored in the film only relate to a relationship between two gay men or women have profoundly missed the point. The story applies to the love between any two people which may be considered taboo, or just plain wrong in society's eyes, whether this be for religious, political or sexual reasons, and this is something that will continue to be a talking point for many years to come.

Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are two down-on-their-luck young cowboys in 1963 Wyoming. They arrive at Brokeback Mountain looking for work, and are hired by the bigoted Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) to herd sheep over the summer months. The work is hard and dangerous, and the pair spend most nights winding down passing a bottle of whiskey. After one particularly heavy night of drinking, Jack makes a move on Ennis and the two make passionate, almost violent love. Aware of society's attitudes towards gay men, the two agree that their relationship must be kept secret and their feelings locked away, and they part ways determined to forget the experience. They both marry (their wives are played by Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway) and have children in the following years, but neither can forget the time spend together on the mountain.

Ang Lee's primary focus has always been on character. Even his worst film, the superhero misfire Hulk, spent far more (most would say too much) time concentrating on the human side of its lead instead his angry, green alter-ego. Following Ennis and Jack over the course of a couple of decades, we experience Ennis' inner turmoil and Jack's complete frustration, with the latter's anger stemming from both society's refusal to let them be who they want to be, and Ennis' dismissing of Jack's idea to buy a ranch with him so they can live out their days together. Jack is more accepting of his own sexuality, occasionally attempting pick-ups in bars and often forced to pay prostitutes in dingy alleys. Haunted by an experience with his father as a child, Ennis is in a constant battle with himself. Angry at the discrimination he would face were he display his true emotions in public, and possibly disgusted at himself for possessing such feelings, he stoically drinks and smokes his nights away after his marriage falls apart.

The script, by Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana, refuses to over-simplify the characters and force labels on them. It isn't entirely clearly whether the two men are homosexual, bisexual or even heterosexual, as their relationship is built on something far more transcendent. It's one of the many reasons why the film shouldn't be remembered as that 'gay cowboy movie'. Ledger and Gyllenhaal are both terrific, and received Academy Award nominations for their efforts. Ledger is undoubtedly the standout as the buttoned-up, tight-lipped tough guy repressing a range of emotions he doesn't full understand behind his incredibly sad eyes. Tragically, he wouldn't completely shake off his pretty boy image until three years later - the year of his death - after The Dark Knight. It is a film that will no doubt resonate with most people whose feelings fall outside of what society considers the 'norm', and will continue to do so for many years to come. On top of that, Brokeback Mountain is simply a beautiful piece of cinema, with one of the most heart-breaking final scenes ever filmed.


Directed by: Ang Lee
Starring: Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid
Country: USA/Canada

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,217: 'Life' (2017)

When promotion started for Daniel Espinosa's space-set horror, a popular fan theory emerged that the movie was in fact an origin film for Sony's upcoming Venom movie, in which an alien symbiote arrives on Earth and attaches itself to Spider-Man, or so the comics and Sam Raimi's terrible Spider-Man 3 go. It speaks volumes about fans' eagerness to attach an original story to some ongoing franchise as part of a bigger, expanding world, as is the fad nowadays brought on by the success of Marvel's nine-year strong 'cinematic universe'. Life is not a Venom origin movie, but is in fact a throwback to popular, adult genre movies that flourished in the 1970s and 80s, although the potential for sequels is purposely there. That said, you have no doubt seen this movie before, as it rests comfortably into a well-worn formula and has no qualms about its own lack of originality.

The crew of the International Space Station manage to pull of the dangerous feat of capturing a fast-moving probe returning from Mars carrying soil samples. The six-strong team, captained by Russian Ekaterina (Olga Dihovichnaya), quickly discover that the package contains evidence of alien life in the form of dormant cells. Biologist Dr. Hugh Derry (Ariyon Bakare) manages to revive one cell by turning up the temperature, witnessing the alien's rapid growth and quick-learning. Back on Earth, school children name the discovery 'Calvin', but on the space station the creature becomes aggressive, attacking Derry and causing the rest of the crew, consisting of medical officer David Jordan (Jake Gyllenhaal), quarantine officer Miranda North (Rebecca Ferguson), pilot Sho Murakami (Hiroyuki Sanada) and wise-cracking engineer Rory Adams (Ryan Reynolds), to flee for their lives. Soon enough, preventing Calvin from reaching Earth becomes the top priority.

Drawing inspiration from the swirling camerawork of Gravity, the horror bursts of Event Horizon, the culturally diverse line-up of Sunshine, and, most of all, the claustrophobic man-versus-beast panic of genre classic Alien, Life offers nothing new to the genre, and will likely be all but forgotten in a few years. If you're expecting atmosphere, characterisation, gore or surprises, this is not that movie. However, your enjoyment of the film will depend on how quickly you come to accept the formulaic way it goes about its business, and the sooner the better. While it's nothing like the dizzying innovation of Gravity, Espinosa's film offers some spectacular visuals, blurring the line between reality and CGI. It also feels short, which is always a good thing. Life is a time-waster; something to switch your brain off to and kill 100 minutes. You may wait for a twist or the story to change direction, but it doesn't, and when the film attempts to deliver a surprise, chances are you'll have already guessed it.


Directed by: Daniel Espinosa
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rebecca Ferguson, Ryan Reynolds, Hiroyuki Sanada, Ariyon Bakare, Olga Dihovichnaya
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,181: 'Nocturnal Animals' (2016)

Seven year after fashion designer Tom Ford surprised everyone by delivering a tender, stylish romance with A Single Man, the writer/director returns for another tale of romantic exploration tinged with danger and sadness. Adapted from Austin Wright's 1993 novel Tony and Susan and renamed Nocturnal Animals for the screen, Ford expertly weaves three narratives, each with their unique look, tone and mood, into a brooding character study. One of the few criticisms thrown at A Single Man was its tendency to place style above substance, but I disagreed at the time, and offer Nocturnal Animals as proof that Ford is a skilled director who balances aesthetic and narrative seamlessly, and often to devastating effect.

The film opens with shocking images of obese women dancing provocatively, and naked, in front of the camera. It's the opening of artist Susan Morrow's (Amy Adams) latest work, and it's a hit amongst the champagne-guzzlers who occupy the room. Susan seems to have everything: a lavish, modern mansion; a wardrobe full of expensive clothes; and a dashing (and rich) husband in Hutton (Armie Hammer). Everything, that is, other than happiness. At a dinner with her pompous artists friends (including a scene-stealing Michael Sheen), she voices her concerns about her husband's suspected affairs and her struggle to take herself seriously in her line of work. As Hutton jets off on a business trip, Susan is home alone when she receives a package from her ex-husband Tony (Jake Gyllenhaal). It's a draft of his finished novel, called Nocturnal Animals.

There a multiple stories within the film, and we are transported into the novel as Susan reads it. It begins with a family driving down a deserted highway at night when they are suddenly run off the road by a group of rednecks. The father (also Gyllenhaal) attempts to diffuse the situation by offering to pay for the damages, but the hooligans, headed by the psychopathic Ray Marcus (Aaron Taylor-Johnson) wind up kidnapping the wife and daughter. The further this dark, violent tale takes us, the clearer it becomes that it is mirroring Susan's reality, and that there may be a hidden message in there somewhere. Is Tony fucking with his ex-wife for a prior incident, or could it be his bizarre way of trying to win back her affections?  Either way, this fictional narrative clearly holds the key to unravelling the couple's part turmoil, and the mindset of both Tony and Susan after their marriage fell apart.

The performances are impressive throughout. Adams demands your attention whenever she graces the screen, expressing the most powerful of emotions with the subtlest of facial movements. Michael Shannon, who was shockingly the only one of the four leads to receive an Oscar nod, is particularly memorable as a long-past-giving-a-fuck Texan lawman riddled with cancer. Yet it's Ford who emerges as the star, delivering an expertly crafted crime psychodrama that is both a curious study of the grotesque bourgeois and a lean, mean Texas revenge thriller. While it's certainly true that the male characters are much more layered than the females, the film received unfair accusations of misogyny upon its release, which may explain its absence from the major categories during awards season. It's a shame, as Nocturnal Animals deserves some recognition for its intoxicating cocktail of Hitchcockian tension, gritty human drama, and decadent visuals.


Directed by: Tom Ford
Starring: Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Shannon, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Isla Fisher, Ellie Bamber, Armie Hammer, Michael Sheen, Andrea Riseborough
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,059: 'End of Watch' (2012)

David Ayer has forged a pretty decent career examining the darker corners of Los Angeles and the cops and criminals that inhabit it. While the writer/director has pained officers of the law with heavy shades of grey in the likes of Training Day (2001), Dark Blue (2002) and Street Kings (2008), End of Watch is one big salute to the boys in blue. While the partners at the centre of the story occasionally enjoy a ruckus and bend the rules when the situation calls for it, they are undoubtedly the good guys worthy of every medal going. In order to place the audience right in the firing line, the film is shot documentary-style using miniature cameras.

Old friends and long-time partners Brian Taylor (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Mike Zavala (Michael Pena) are beat cops, patrolling the streets of South Central L.A. and answering calls for anything from domestic violence to come gruesome murders committed by the Sinaloa Cartel. For a 'project', Brian decides to record everything he and Mike experience while on patrol, fixing cameras to their bodies for a full POV perspective. Outside of the force, Brian and Mike are the best of friends, with Brian starting a relationship with the spunky Janet (Anna Kendrick) and the two double-dating with Mike and his wife. But unbeknown to them, the Cartel have placed a target on their heads after they expose a cell for human trafficking.

Your opinion of End of Watch will most likely depend on your stance on the 'found footage' genre. It's been done to death, especially in the past few years, and here it feels like its employment is a gimmick designed to make it stand out from the barrage of cop movies that are churned out of every year, although it does add a sense of reality to the action. Along with Brian and Mike's mini-cams, the gang of Surenos employed by the Cartel also film each other as they talk tough about killing cops and swear a lot. Ayer also uses an extra camera on occasion, even when there are no characters there to stand behind it. It's an uneven and almost redundant tactic, that it's a wonder why Ayer didn't simply stick to the film's main hook of having the actors film each other.

One of the most impressive things about End of Watch is the chemistry between Gyllenhaal and Pena. Both deliver terrific, believable performances, and their in-car banter provides most of the laughs. While their chest-puffing, overly-masculine chit-chat and behaviour does become somewhat exhausting, they are likeable, down-to-earth company. It also depicts a truly terrifying Los Angeles, with the streets brimming with danger and violent thugs ready to pounce. It almost feels like some war-torn country at the other side of the world rather than the city often portrayed as exciting and glamorous in cinema. It's very much a mixed bag overall - a silly action climax betrays the gritty realism that comes before - but there are many palm-wetting moments to be admired.


Directed by: David Ayer
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michael Peña, Anna Kendrick, Natalie Martinez, David Harbour, Frank Grillo, America Ferrera
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #853: 'Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time' (2010)

Super Mario Bros. (1993). Street Fighter (1994). Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001). Resident Evil (2002). The list of movies adapted from video games that make you want to tear the skin from your own face goes on and on. Still, without a notable exception to the rule, producers keep greenlighting these films, and stars still line up to appear in them. If any producer was capable of bucking the trend, it's action connoisseur Jerry Bruckheimer, who somehow managed to turn a theme park ride that centred around cinema's most floppable subject (pirates), and turned it into a billion-dollar, Oscar-nominated franchise.

While Prince of Persia underperformed commercially and didn't end up on any critics' annual top 10 lists, it's the best video game adaptation I've seen (although that isn't saying much). The plot centres around prince Dastan (a six-packed Jake Gyllenhaal), who after being plucked from the street as a child after the King (Ronald Pickup) was impressed by his moxie, now fights and laughs alongside his adopted father's blood sons, Tus (Richard Coyle) and Garsiv (Toby Kebbell). He is at the front of an attack on Alamut, who Dastan's uncle Nizam (Ben Kingsley) has accused of selling weapons to their enemies. After taking the city, he meets the beautiful princess Tamina (Gemma Arterton), but soon finds himself on the run, wrongly accused of his father's murder and in possession of a magic dagger able to control time.

Director Mike Newell is quite the opposite of what you would call an auteur. He's a sort of jack-of-all-trades, directing movies of all genres and of varying quality, from the awful, foppish comedy Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), to the impressive gangster flick Donnie Brasco (1997), and he even had a dabble in the most successful film series of all time with Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005), one of the best of the franchise. His erratic's rub off on Prince of Persia. Writers Boaz Yakin, Doug Miro and Carlo Bernard are wise enough to deliver an actual story rather than simply trying to replicate the charms of the video game, and the chest-pumping antics of the brothers' strained relationship keep things intriguing enough, even though we're stuck with the drippy (but undeniably sexy) Tamina for the most part.

It suffers when trying to deliver a breakneck, or even fathomable, action scene. Though Gyllenhaal nails the part - he brings a cocky, Errol Flynn-esque charm to the role - his dust-up's are confusing and messy. The sandy streets of Persia and the scorched deserts surrounding it are lavish, and touches of CGI can make the screen light up. It sometimes it achieves this, but overuses it to the point where the visuals become bloated and unreal. I've only seen the game played once or twice, but I could see why the series is so popular, and while the film certainly catches the look of the game and provides a few wink-wink in-jokes for the gamers, it lacks the games breathlessness. Things picks up slightly when comic relief Alfred Molina and his racing ostrich's show up, and it often feels swashbuckling in the old-fashioned sense, but this is formulaic, instantly forgettable stuff.


Directed by: Mike Newell
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Gemma Arterton, Ben Kingsley, Alfred Molina, Steve Toussaint, Richard Coyle, Toby Kebbell
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #838: 'Nightcrawler' (2014)

Only four years before the release of this film, Jake Gyllenhaal was bronzed, maned and six-packed, and ended up watching Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time (2010), a blockbuster based on a popular video game (always a bad idea), crash and burn both at the hands of the critics and in terms of box office receipts. Hollywood's attempt at sculpting this young actor we first saw as shifty and strange in Donnie Darko (2001) into something he was not, had failed miserably, and it seemed he was destined to fade and disappear. Four years later, it's difficult to imagine Gyllenhaal as anything other than the great actor he has become.

In Nightcrawler, he plays Lou Bloom. When we first meet him, he's trying to steel metal to sell for scrap, attacking a security guard when he is caught and stealing his watch. He sells what he steals, trying to cement a business relationship with the manager of a construction site, pitching his long-term ideas in Googled sales-speak. The guy isn't interested, maybe because he doesn't want to get into business with a criminal, or maybe it's because Lou is just so damn strange. He's clearly highly intelligent, observant and extremely driven, but with his bug-eyed glare, greasy hair and gaunt exterior, mixed with an unnerving politeness, you wouldn't want to be caught alone in a room with the creep.

Driving home disappointed but not deterred, he comes across police sirens and a grisly auto-mobile accident. It's not the blood and guts he's interested in seeing, but the collections of 'nightcrawlers' who emerge out of the night, cameras swung onto their soldiers, filming anything they can of the grim wreckage. Ever curious, Lou questions one of them, Joe (Bill Paxton), who explains the in's and out's of what they do before darting off to sell what they have to the highest-bidding TV station. Purchasing a video camera, Lou gives it a try. He employs Rick (Riz Ahmed) to listen to police scanners and direct him to the pay-checks, and forms a professional relationship with 'vampire shift' news director Nina (Rene Russo), who gets first dibs on any footage Lou shoots throughout the night.

First time director Dan Gilroy, Russo's husband and writer of forgotten Emilio Estevez vehicle Freejack (1992) and the more recent The Bourne Legacy (2012), manages to keep the film a right mix of black comedy, neon-lit thriller, and biting satire. It's also a film about L.A., a city that, in Lou's eyes especially, only comes alive at night, where every corner could lead to another shocking story to spark fear into morning viewers, and bumping Lou up the corporate ladder in the process. Things are pushed to the extreme in Nightcrawler, but it's alarming to realise that we are bombarded with graphic images in various media outlets every day, but for what reason? Is it part of a bigger picture aimed at controlling a terrified and increasingly paranoid audience, or is it simply because, deep down, we want to see them?

As Lou's thirst for recognition, respect and financial success becomes increasingly unquenchable, he begins to manipulate things for his own gain. From the opening scene where he may or may not have killed a man, we simply don't know what he is capable of. He first moves a corpse so he can get a better angle when he arrives at a car crash before the police, and things spiral outward from there. Whether it's Gyllenhaal's stunning performance (Oscar hang your head in shame) or the idea of if we are to exist in an evil world, then why not excel in it, I wanted this slimy opportunist, who represents everything I hate, to succeed. It loses it's grit and focus towards the end, but Nightcrawler is an accomplished debut, managing to be fun, repulsive and both beautiful and ugly to look at.


Directed by: Dan Gilroy
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Riz Ahmed, Bill Paxton
Country: USA

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #749: 'Prisoners' (2013)

For all those concerned that Denis Villeneuve, director of art-house pieces Polytechnique (2009) and the Oscar-nominated Incendies (2010), has sold out on his trip to the U.S., then rest assured, Prisoners is a suitably grim, adult and metaphor-laden drama which just happens to be anchored by two Hollywood A-or-there-about-listers. Beginning with an almost unbearably tense opening hour or so, Prisoners soon dissolves into a formulaic thriller, abandoning the near-unbearable tension of the opening hour and packing the film with foot-chases and repetitive torture-porn, finding itself too caught up in tying all the many loose ends together for it all to make sense.

Whilst attending a Thanksgiving dinner, the daughters of Keller (Hugh Jackman) and Grace Dover (Mario Bello), and their neighbours Franklin (Terrence Howard) and Nancy Birch (Viola Davis), go missing. The only clue is a mysterious RV parked outside moments before the abduction, which is quickly found by Detecive Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) in a car park with an apparently stricken Alex Jones (Paul Dano) inside. After Alex is quickly released due to a lack of evidence, Keller is furious and unconvinced, abducting him and taking him to an abandoned former home in order to instigate his own method of interrogation.

Boasting Oscar-nominated cinematography by long-time Coen Brothers collaborator Roger Deakins, this is one of the finest looking mainstream thrillers in years. Drenched in grey, the miserable colour palette drapes the film in a feeling of foreboding dread. It brings to mind the beautiful and superior thriller Zodiac (2007), only without the period setting. It drags - and it does drag - on for 2 and a half hours, and the film is so lacking in humour that any realism the film was striving for suffers. It also stars Hugh Jackman, possibly the most effortlessly likeable actor working today, and watching him bang on the wall shouting "where is my daughter!?" - a line that should have been retired after Taken (2008) - is silly and unconvincing. The film takes itself so seriously that it almost becomes a parody of itself.

Gyllenhaal as Loki, however, is outstanding, and is a character I wish the film focused more on. With neck tattoos, a strange, buttoned-up (with no tie) appearance, slick-back hair, and blinking tic, it hints at a more interesting character than the film fully allows to develop. The film is more interested in not-so-subtle War on Terror parallels and comments on post-9/11 vigilantism, that sadly struggles to keep a hold of it's ever-widening plot and multiple plot strands, over-reaching itself constantly with scenes of stoic uber-seriousness. But it's splendidly filmed, and beautifully performed by Gyllenhaal, Dano and Melissa Leo (playing Alex's mother), which could have done with some heavier editing and less self-importance.


Directed by: Denis Villeneuve
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis, Maria Bello, Terrence Howard, Melissa Leo, Paul Dano
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #725: 'Zodiac' (2007)

You would be forgiven if you went into David Fincher's Zodiac expecting a routine serial killer flick, but, although it opens with two memorably brutal murders, it puts aside character and plot to simply document the case of the Zodiac killer in the late 1960's and into the early 70's. The problem is, he was never caught, so Zodiac draws you into the jigsaw puzzle that was the search for the killer, only to be frequently met with dead ends and red herrings. The three lead characters come and go throughout the film, but this is not about them, it's ultimately about the fear that gripped San Francisco when the Zodiac was on the prowl.

At the San Francisco Chronicle, a letter arrives from someone claiming to be the Zodiac killer, who has already shot a young couple in their car. The letter demands publication, and offers a puzzle involving strange symbols as a means of uncovering his identity. This draws in Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), who, despite his interest, is not taken seriously by the staff, who include crime reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.). The Zodiac strikes again, attacking a couple in a park and shooting a taxi driver in the back of the head. Police detectives David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) are brought in to investigate, and liaise with Avery and Graysmith, whose lives start to be consumed by the case.

Fincher is obviously comfortable in this setting, having already brought to life the eternally drizzly and grim world of Se7en (1995) and the miserable confines of modern corporate life in Fight Club (1999). Zodiac is a mixture of both, here filmed digitally, and here combines a grimy brown colour palette with Fincher's recognisable eye for the stylish. It takes pride in its detail, grinding out excitement within the most mundane of activities. In Zodiac, a close-up of handwriting or the discovery of a previously ignored newspaper clipping become just as tense as any action scene. After all, this is a film about the case, so such close observation is as vital as it is entertaining.

The acting is top class across the board, with Mark Ruffalo, a character actor who has gone underrated for far too long, standing out in the least showy role of the lead trio. Downey Jr. brings his natural charisma to the boozy, erratic Avery, and Gyllenhaal, given the most screen-time (his character wrote the book the film is based on) is a likeable underdog. The characters aren't given much time to breathe between the fast-talk conversations and the digging for clues, but its the Zodiac himself that looms largest over the film. He is barely seen outside of the opening half hour, but his presence is never far away in Fincher's nervous San Francisco. And there lies the film's genius. Impeccably directed, brilliantly written, and utterly terrifying.


Directed by: David Fincher
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards, John Carroll Lynch, Chloë Sevigny, Elias Koteas, Brian Cox
Country: USA

Rating: *****

Tom Gillespie