The Reel Rejects - ZODIAC (2007) MOVIE REACTION!! FIRST TIME WATCHING! Full Movie Review | David Fincher | The Killer

Starting point is 00:00:00 Citizens of the Reject Nation, it is John and Andrew Gordon back in the saddle once again to check out a David Fincher classic. The man is back in theaters with The Killer, so we are finally going to check out the classic, the true crime epic. It's time for Zodiac. Andrew, how you feeling? And are you excited? I am very, always excited for another David Fincher film, although I am missing one in his filmography, his greatest film, I've heard, Alien 3. Oh, yes, definitely.

Starting point is 00:00:40 Me too. One day. Well, we'll get to go. Guys, leave three likes on this video. Also, don't forget to subscribe and hit that notification bell so that you are updated every time one of these videos drops and as well. Thank you to the team over at Prepper for helping us chop down these highlights. It's tough work.

Starting point is 00:00:56 And last, but certainly not least. If you want to support the channel and rock a little Rejectnation swag in the process, go on over to rejectnation shop.com. We got tons of great stuff over there. We got the classic tickets. We got the Who Influences the influencers. America's ass. The boys inspired tea. We got Asoka inspired teas, official Loki teas.

Starting point is 00:01:16 There's plenty to check out there. So go have a look. Grab yourself something nice. And, hey, if you want to get the complete experience alongside Andrew and I, see everything that doesn't make these reaction highlights, come on over to Patreon. slash the real rejects sync up with your own copy and enjoy the full zodiac experience along with everything else we got to offer over there we got tons of other shows and films with reaction highlights and watch alongs included it's a good time over there andrew are you ready to solve some crimes let's solve some crimes john it's yo let's do this thing

Starting point is 00:01:58 This is the 4th of July. This is literally the song I sing whenever I leave the real Rejects studio. Man, you really creep this out. Oh, geez. Whoa. Who! Why? It was minty.

Starting point is 00:02:19 We got the science bros and Mysterio. Hey. A crossover event of the summer. Is this a multiverse? First film, I knew it. Crossover event of whatever year this came out. 2007. The odd thing is, we also got gloves.

Starting point is 00:02:35 Suspects? Blood on. Yeah, buddy. I got a single 9mm casing. Whoa. Yeah, Luter. Hope he calls up and tells you the brand. I'm a shooter.

Starting point is 00:02:49 Negro male adult hole snipens be a stocky, Ku-cut Caucasian. Damn. Oh, wow. Not one call since Alan's passing. but did he get back together with his wife it just says that he's got a healthy relationship with his children so doesn't necessarily mean that their mother stuck around yeah i mean you know um first of all fincher i mean directed the hell out of this movie and i love the way

Starting point is 00:03:17 he used the camera and certain pov shots and oh lenore so i also it was uh stuart minkas from boy meets world i like that they credited i guess they had multiple actors playing the potential zodiacs here. Oh, I didn't see that in the credits. Yeah, they had a zodiac one, Zodiac 2. Smart. So, yeah, they probably had different statures for different points of time. It makes sense to do that because again, they didn't officially have someone in real life that they caught too. So it's smart to actually do that as well. Well, yeah, it plays into that whole, again, you're taking people's accounts. Everyone's got a slightly different one and you're passing through time. So, like, this person's stature is probably going to change a little bit

Starting point is 00:03:58 over that course like such great little observation totally you know for me like obviously when it comes to a murder mystery crime solving thriller obviously you know you've the most interesting aspect of the film is always solving the case of course like and I wanted to know who it was obviously we saw who our prime suspect was of course but I found the most fascinating aspect of this film the ramifications of what trying to to solve the case was having on everyone trying to solve it. Oh, yeah. Just like from, you got Robert Taney Jr.'s character, you got Goose and the Hulk,

Starting point is 00:04:38 and then you got Mysterio, like, again, just seeing, like, how it's just disrupting. Obviously, you got fear and paranoia, you know, they just want to solve it so they can go back to their regular lives and do their normal things, of course. So they can go focus on other atrocities. Yeah, exactly, exactly. but again just seeing the ramifications on what it's happening on their family and daily lives I found that to be the most fascinating aspect and from that perspective I just like I felt like you know the zodiac killer was winning in that way like he's disrupting these people's lives in an awful and negative way well yeah he says that thing about being in control now of everything yeah and in a way I mean he is it makes sense because wow look at all these consultants too yeah yeah because it's like I Obviously, the victims suffer the very worst anguish and their families and whatnot.

Starting point is 00:05:33 But it is a testament to, yeah, just how much, you know, you can absorb, you know, the heart's minds and, you know, nerves of so many people. And obviously, it makes the most sense to center this around both the journalists and the officers investigating. but it's one of those things that yeah kind of absorbs everyone you know everyone is aware of this everyone's watching the news everyone's paranoid that they might be next or they might run into somebody or some weird off-color situation is going to lead somewhere terrible and then yeah when you're looking in on the people actually kind of investigating this you see just the level of intense obsession that has like that has to exist like you have to be tenacious to go after something like this anyway but also this is the kind of thing that yeah

Starting point is 00:06:23 Like, how could you not become consumed by it and obsessed with it? And, and yeah, I really enjoyed the way they portrayed that through all the different characters, especially, you know, yeah, it's like, I think you pointed out at some point. You've got so many people kind of entering and exiting the chessboard and kind of doing their best and kind of finding out what their limits are. and you know everybody seems like only um goose only only him only he seemed to be able to get out and just go on with life and the rest of these guys on a positive note yeah are sort of consumed by this and uh and yeah to have jake jillen hall who's there from the beginning uh but in you know these little fits and bursts he's not really the focus until like halfway through the movie when uh when you know avery leaves and and it's a freaking out of of Goldberg was in one scene two scenes two scenes his opening scene and then the scene where he's calling mark ruffalo's character to let him know the zodiac had written another letter yeah but for all it says the purposes we have like one exchange meaningfully with him and jake jillenall and yeah but but then for for jillian hall to be the sort of the longest enduring like he's kind of held out of everything because of

Starting point is 00:07:42 his position at the paper obviously cartoon is we don't really need you that much unless you're helping solve these cyphers or whatever yeah and then eventually he's sort of takes up the mantle and becomes I'm sure one of the many who have posited popular theories and whatnot and yeah like this is the kind of movie that makes me

Starting point is 00:08:01 like this was already so engrossing I shudder to broach the prospect because I've I know a couple people who are like very deep down the rabbit hole of just you know interest in and I guess

Starting point is 00:08:17 morbid fascination with this case And it does make you want to go and look at all the details and kind of break it all down. But I thought the way that they handled it here was well done because it is about the greater circumstances, about the whole picture. It's not just about relishing in these atrocities. And like when the murders take place, they are striking, they are stark, they are harsh. But I feel like this does manage to avoid the exploitative quality. that a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot of movies based on real life killers succumbed to, ultimately, is like, it didn't become too much of a geek show. And I feel like the way they shot a lot of those sequences in particular, like, you are there with, you know, these poor victims, and it is so eerie, and you're never quite seeing him.

Starting point is 00:09:11 Like, I think they did a really nice job with the perspective, and it really feels like something cobbled together, minus, you know, certain. small moments here and there where you're like well I don't know who would have recorded this but yeah like so many little things feel lived in and yeah and like this was probably incredible like I would I want to know how long it took to

Starting point is 00:09:32 get to the point where we could roll camera on this yeah you know because so much research would have had to have been done yeah for sure and when it comes to Jake Gyllenhaal's character I like the theme of obsession how it takes over and like just how he's losing himself just like he's getting his kids involved on

Starting point is 00:09:48 the case. Everybody, but especially Yeah, because he's, because obviously we see that he's got this rapport between him and Mark Ruffalo, which I love where he's like, and I would tell you not to go see this person. I would tell you not to go see. Because officially, obviously he loses job. He's

Starting point is 00:10:02 telling a reporter to tell him to do these things so anonymously he's doing this. But yeah, I know those rapport between him and Mark Ruffalo were great, so he gets his kids involved. But again, that's why I said, like I found it's so fascinating to see like just how obsession was

Starting point is 00:10:18 taking over at this point because he's just he's got to know who this guy is it's like it's not even about the solving anyway like i mean from my perspective it's not even about the solving anymore it's just the ramifications of seeing what it's doing to society and our main characters at this point um so i found that to be fascinating um also too i just really thought just uh just from a cinematic perspective i love the way uh the cinematography was and there was some tracking shots too where we were that area above the car yeah I'm like and again this is a little it's 2007

Starting point is 00:10:54 so a little before drones you know using drones as cameras so some of those shots where they were tracking over the car and then turning with it too where are we in terms of motion tracking image stabilization because like it was impressive because now yeah

Starting point is 00:11:10 you can you can digitally through various means like lock a target and have your camera always keep that center and I'm sure that there was at least decent technology for that at the time. But I do wonder, because, yeah, it's not quite as like, 2023, you could do the, yeah, you could just like, you know, get a phone and a drone and you're done.

Starting point is 00:11:28 I would assume, too, that Zodiac book that we saw by a graysmith. Is that the character of Jake Jones? Robert Grace. I would assume that the book we saw there at the end in 1991, I'm assuming that's the real book that he wrote in real life. That's got to be the book this is heavily based on it. James Vanderbilt wrote. And by the way, James Vanderbilt, great job.

Starting point is 00:11:48 loved the script that he wrote and two scenes that really um i mean all the whole movie stood out to me but two scenes that really stood out that that first scene they had with lee yeah where they were interrogating him at his work like it felt like mind hunter yeah maybe you want to go watch mine hunter yeah there is that scene um and then uh just that the scene where it was extremely suspenseful at roger rabbit's house yes i was just again it's it's i mean it's not exactly it's it's a it's a murder mystery crime thrill and i know you can make a case there's horror elements to, you know, being in a film of that? Well, this is a horror. I mean, true crime to me is the horror of life. And, I mean, people, true crime is bigger than ever. People love true crime. But that's the stuff I struggle the most with in terms of, like, stuff that gets under my skin and freaks me out. Yeah, of course, of course.

Starting point is 00:12:35 No, I mean, I've watched plenty of, what's the show on, I'm blanking right now. Unsolved mysteries. Not unsolved. I mean, I did watch that, too. It's the one where they were, Forensic Files. I watched so many episodes Not because I wanted to Because you're taking notes for your future career

Starting point is 00:12:53 Exactly yes No sane person knows as many movie references as you and Drew And this guy was a film He was a cinephile Yes I found it was you Yeah thanks Jonathan I found fascination in just like how Police officers and forensic teams like just work together as a team

Starting point is 00:13:11 And the scientific process that went behind it In solving you know, the murders and also to... Yeah, and all that, but also... Horsal fingerprints and all that, but also to, like, the psychosis and what goes on and obviously clearly people who do these type of things are just they need mental health. I mean, they have obviously mental problems and like, why are they doing these types of things? It's just like that was my fascination with watching those types of shows.

Starting point is 00:13:37 And I really also love the rapport and the different types of teamwork because obviously they were completely on different pages at the beginning because when we saw Goose's, character. He's like, he's like, oh, do I need to be on the phone with it? Oh, I guess I got to call this. Oh, I guess I got to call this. That was really fun to watch. Like, I mean, maddening, but also really fun. And watching them, I like the way they pitched that because they could have drawn it out and made it like this battle conflict. And at first it is. And it's like jurisdiction and people stepping on each other's toes. And people are like, well, my work is sound. Don't, you know, come at me all suspicious like. And then, yeah, watching this network form of here are all like the main, you know, know, bureaus and departments and, you know, police, police stations and stuff that are working on this. And here's your little web that later Jake Gyllenhaal is going to spend all his time bouncing around between, you know. It's like really well laid out in terms of the geography and the characters. And I think the way that it continues hopping through time, like it moves through time in a way that I found really compelling that you might, you know, if you're not paying too much attention, you might get lost during. But I thought this was, it enhanced the experience greatly.

Starting point is 00:14:43 And I think that, I mean, something like this has to be so, so hard, I would imagine, to script. Oh, yeah. Especially. And I thought the way, I mean, obviously Fincher is a pretty master director. And this seems to be, I mean, I, again, I haven't seen the full filmog. But this does. We still need to see Hylian 3. Yes.

Starting point is 00:15:04 This does seem like an agreeable sort of pinnacle in some ways in terms of his filmography. But hats off to the writing for. Yeah, not making this too overwhelming, too convoluted, too hard to keep track of. Yeah. And for whittling down, what I can only assume must be so many details and speculations. Because one thing, I don't know a ton about the actual case. I have had people, you know, kind of walk me through some of the basics and a few of the major theories. And from what I know, there are many compelling and strange details and other suspects and theories as to who it could have been.

Starting point is 00:15:42 It did make me curious That whole bit where he's like writing himself Where Toski is like writing himself A couple of these letters That's something I would like to go back And kind of look at and unpack Not that I'm saying like oh he did it But I'm just like oh what a weird detail

Starting point is 00:15:55 But yeah like this is a terrific ensemble I thought the way that they cast Wow Oh yeah like their main cast is great They're supporting cast around The more like household name ensemble Yeah Like all these different really recognizable

Starting point is 00:16:11 character actors and stuff like really well every step of the product like you know living from the 60s to the 90s spending much time in the 70s like I thought all the production designs the costuming all that stuff was really terrific the hair yes oh yeah those those sideburns of mark ruffalo yeah no for sure and also too and I know that they were filming the dark night at the time that this was released in 2007 dark night came out in 2008 but I feel like this film was definitely a little bit of an influence on the dark night for sure and also obviously it was a major influence on the batman well you certainly certainly the batman i mean in terms of riddler's character and all those obviously the riddler you know he delves into doing riddles and all that's obviously

Starting point is 00:16:57 just a character trait but like after having seen this film like there's a mere a lot of influence of this film um which is fine the dark night well i would say fincher i think it's more fair to say there's Fincher influence. Yeah, no, no, no, I meant just the Flincher influence and just maybe from the book, just like maybe Nolan kind of been a little bit influenced, like maybe read it and just gotten some of that. I also mean just in terms of the Joker, just like, I'm playing into your fears and paranoia and like just that type of thing and like into onto society and from that perspective

Starting point is 00:17:31 and like delving. Something that's going to whip everybody up. That's all I meant on that. I mean, obviously like I don't think no one watched this movie go. oh okay now i got to scramble my script uh we i mean because they were already knee deep and if not there's no way that could have happened unless he was like sharing daily yeah exactly exactly because at the time of this release they would dark night was probably just about done filming or pretty close to it so i i don't mean in that i just mean there were i just mean in terms of the zodiac like

Starting point is 00:17:59 just how he was like causing so much fear and paranoia on society i just mean that from the joker's perspective i just feel like there was a little bit of possible influence there yeah There's probably like a serial killer salad. Yeah, but obviously this movie definitely influenced the Batman with Robert Pattinson. Definitely there was some influence there. Oh, 100%. I mean, that movie is like absolutely drawing from this. Yeah.

Starting point is 00:18:23 And I mean, you know, the Riddler is certainly posed as the Joker's or the Zodiac essentially. You know, just they co-opped his, you know, either film count in or crosshairs or whatever with the question mark, like all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah, but really good film, Fincher, direct to the Halved, James Vanderbilt, great script. I love the way the cinematography was used, the music, the way certain shots are lit, the POV perspectives. I mean, there's a lot of eerie shots. They're really good at playing up the suspense and giving you a moment, like, guiding your focus to like, okay, is this voice similar? Yeah, yeah.

Starting point is 00:19:00 Oh, this person's face is now in shadow for this. And I'm sure when you watch them repeat viewings, you can go, or just kind of rewind pack, which obviously. So we can't do on our reaction, but just when we were on our own time, like, okay, is that the voice of Dick McDonald here, you know, kind of thing? Rick. No, I'm talking about the actor who plays Lee. Oh, sure, sure, sure. Did you ever see the founder with Michael Keaton?

Starting point is 00:19:23 No. Oh, he's one of the McDonald's brothers. That's why I say Dick McDonald. But also, too, the other standout scene, I was really quick. I just want to go to. The other standout scene was the one where they were piecing together how it was Lee. I really love that scene. I was like, again, it's all circumstantial, but.

Starting point is 00:19:37 but it's sound logic in terms of like there's so many yeah there's so many details yeah I'm like this is like you didn't hear anything from this guy while this guy was entirely in prison on top of all this other evidence that sounds really sound and logic I'm like yeah this is a very compelling argument is all I'm saying yeah nothing that actually sticks enough court of law without actual evidence which is the other maddening thing is you're like oh my God you can have it's the good and the well it's because Yeah, sorry, sorry, go ahead. No, it's the good and the bad thing about how our laws.

Starting point is 00:20:12 It's the problematic thing about how our law works because there's so much that maybe, thankfully, for certain innocent folks who look suspicious, you can't, yeah, just go like, there's a lot of evidence pointing this way. We should just book them. But at the same time, you're like, God damn it. This is the guy, but we can't, we have no actual evidence to stick him, but I believe at least from my understanding, at least like fingerprints-wise, I couldn't get him. writing and then handwriting wise it just unless I was misunderstanding it seemed like Roger Rabbit seemed to be the person involved in some of the

Starting point is 00:20:45 worst. The closest match they ever got was the posters that they that in that exchange he found out oh you drew those and not Lee well shit you know not this Rick guy or who are talking about and there was a hint that there could be possible or copycat part of it part of me wonders though like what if you knew

Starting point is 00:21:01 that they would analyze that and intentionally found some other way or found I don't know made some somebody else right like i don't know there's so many questions still yeah yeah yeah i had i had one more thought in my head but and then interesting timing that he got a fatal heart attack right as the police were coming to question him after that uh minkius who is now older and played the actor who you said that i forgot his name from losers and always sunny uh points out it's him this is the guy coming to question him fatal heart attack of course timing timing is impeccable

Starting point is 00:21:34 yeah yeah it's all part of the plan he just he faked it and got off the grid. It's all part of the plan. Well, certainly, guys, leave us your thoughts down below. What did you think of the Zodiac? What are your theories? Have you cracked the case? Great film.

Starting point is 00:21:48 Terrific film. Yeah, leave us your suspicions. And, hey, before we get out of here, let's do a quickie patron of the day. Shout out for, let's see. I bet one of our patrons could be the Zodiac. Who do we think? If anybody at our Patreon could be the Zodiac Killer,

Starting point is 00:22:04 I think it would be Eric Horst-winning. Oh, definitely. Last guy you would ever suspect. Definitely. You know, he's got such a gregarious personality. He's got the big real rejects tattoo, hiding in plain sight. Well, they did say it was a cinephile, so. That's true.

Starting point is 00:22:18 He's a cinephile, and he probably has pretty nice handwriting, too. I mean, you know, he may live across the country now, but I don't know where he was living in the, you know, the 70s, you know? I don't know if he's even old enough, but that's no matter, all right? We got, we're on to you. Right, Eric, and, you know, one of these days you're going to be exposed. But, hey, no matter what happens, we welcome you as a super sexy reject. And, you know, even if you do get locked up for these heinous murders, you know, you should keep your pledge going.

Starting point is 00:22:50 That's all I'm saying. So we love you, buddy. And we'll catch you on the next one. Be well. And, yeah, cheers. Much love. Wait, you're not a Hotels.com member? So, you're choosing to pay full price.

Starting point is 00:23:09 Did you not hear the song? How could you not be a member and save up to 20%? That's less than 50%. But it's more than 0%. You're welcome. See? The math is mathing. Save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels with Hotels.com.

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The Reel Rejects - ZODIAC (2007) MOVIE REACTION!! FIRST TIME WATCHING! Full Movie Review | David Fincher | The Killer

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