Blu-Ray Review: ‘Zodiac: Director’s Cut’ Perfectly Enhances Great Movie

Blu-Ray Rating: 5.0/5.0

CHICAGO – Those who chose HD-DVD during the next-generation format war already know the quality of Paramount’s “Zodiac: Director’s Cut” and now one of the most remarkable releases of the last few years has finally been imported to Blu-Ray.

It’s a must-own for not only fans of David Fincher’s excellent movie but anyone with a Blu-Ray player. Not only does “Zodiac” include one of the best video transfers that have ever produced for any format, but the special features are nearly as mesmerizing as this five-star movie. Fincher will get a lot of press this month for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” but history is likely to be even kinder to “Zodiac,” an already-great film made even better with one of the best Blu-Ray releases to date.

Zodiac: Director’s Cut was released by Paramount Home Video on January 27th, 2009.
Photo credit: Paramount

By now, I would hope that you’re familiar with “Zodiac” as a motion picture. As for the “Director’s Cut” material, it’s not as extensive as you might think. There are only a few changes to the actual film with the final product only running four minutes longer.

Photo credit: Paramount

If you haven’t seen “Zodiac,” it stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo in one of the most detailed period recreations in the history of film. Based on the true story of the Zodiac killer, a maniac who terrorized San Francisco in the ’70s, Fincher’s film is mesmerizing in its depiction of the procedure of crime-solving.

Every single detail, even the most minute, works together to create a film that feels both realistic and artistic. Fincher is a perfectionist, a fact documented in the great documentary, “Zodiac Deciphered” on disc two of the Blu-Ray release.

Here’s just one example: In the recreated offices of The San Francisco Chronicle, every single stack of newspapers around the office was recreated to be reprints of what they actually would have been at the time. You could walk on to the set of “Zodiac,” pick up any newspaper and turn to any page and it would look and read exactly as it did on the day of its actual publication.

That may sound like overkill, but it’s the attention to detail that makes “Zodiac” so stunningly mesmerizing and lends it to a format like HD. In 1080P high definition, Harris Savides’ amazing cinematography and Fincher’s great direction look even better than they did in theaters. It’s one of the most flawless video transfers in the history of Blu-Ray and the English 5.1 TrueHD track matches it.

As for special features, “Zodiac: Director’s Cut” delivers more than any fan of the movie could ask for. First, the commentaries are two of the best I’ve heard in a long time. For the first, the producers of the release wisely let Fincher speak for himself, giving an informative solo commentary.

Zodiac: Director’s Cut was released by Paramount Home Video on January 27th, 2009. Photo credit: Paramount

The second track is more trivia-based and fun and features two separate groups intercut - Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr. on one and producers Brad Fischer and James Vanderbilt with the notorious crimehound James Ellroy on the other. Any release that features a commentary track by Ellroy is a must-listen. He’s a fascinating dude. If you’re not familiar with the author of “L.A. Confidential” and “The Black Dahlia,” you should be.

The commentaries, the video transfer, and the quality of “Zodiac” itself would be enough, but the second disc of special features push this release over the top.

It’s so refreshing to see special features that were clearly intended not merely to be superfluous or “bonus” but to actually enhance the experience of the film. That’s what the five extended features on disc two of “Zodiac: Director’s Cut” accomplish.

There are three featurettes related to the film itself. The nearly feature-length behind-the-scenes documentary “Zodiac Deciphered” and “The Visual Effects of Zodiac” are both presented in HD and they are rounded out by “Previsualization,” a split-screen comparison between animatics and the finished film for three of the murder sequences from the film.

What pushes “Zodiac: Director’s Cut” from a great release to one of the best on the format are the two documentaries about the actual killer himself.

“This is the Zodiac Speaking” is a feature-length documentary (produced and directed by David Prior) covering every aspect of the investigation, including interviews with the original investigators and surviving victims. Presented in HD, “Zodiac Speaking” could be sold on its own or released in theaters as a great true-crime doc. The fact that it’s included in the “special features” is remarkable.

Its partner, “His Name Was Arthur Leigh Allen,” an examination of the main suspect, is nearly as good and also presented in HD.

There are only a few times a year, if we’re lucky, when a great film comes to Blu-Ray with features and a technical transfer that does it justice. “Zodiac: Director’s Cut” is one of those times.

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com