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Overall Rating
 Awesome: 39.77%
Worth A Look: 29.55%
Average: 25%
Pretty Bad: 2.27%
Total Crap: 3.41%
8 reviews, 40 user ratings
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| Zodiac (2007) |
by Lybarger
"It takes real filmmakers to make a murder mystery without solving it."
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'Panic Room' director David Fincher’s latest movie is a fact-based thriller with little action and frustrated heroes who can’t quite bring a serial killer to justice. Believe it or not, these are the film’s strengths.“Zodiac” has its share of chills (particularly in the third act), but much of its appeal comes from Fincher’s cold but strangely intimate approach. While there are a few fleeting scenes of horrific violence, Fincher instead emphasizes how the police and the press struggled to apprehend a murderer who terrorized Californians from the late 60s through the early 70s.
As depicted in the film, the killer dubs himself “Zodiac” and taunts the authorities with a series of letters that included relics of the crime scene or cryptic messages. For years he becomes an obsession for the San Francisco Chronicle’s crime reporter Paul Avery (a typecast but terrific Robert Downey, Jr.) and for cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal).
Avery is a hard-drinking but seasoned journalist, but Graysmith often finds himself nearly missing deadlines because he’s trying to decode Zodiac’s messages. An Eagle Scout with a child-like fascination with puzzles, Graysmith even digs through Avery’s trash for information that might help in a case that’s not even on his beat.
The detectives in charge of the case, William Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), have a long and seemingly fruitless task. While the killer’s correspondence is prolific and brazen, he’s gifted at avoiding potential witnesses and leaving no useful clues.
Furthermore, the extent of Zodiac’s crimes may never been known. In the film, Avery discovers that many of Zodiac’s claims were bogus, and much of the evidence collected in the case is contradictory and misleading.
Most thrillers of this sort, like Fincher’s earlier film “Se7en,” emphasize how sick and depraved the killer is (gee, do you think somebody who kills random strangers might have some issues?). But Fincher and screenwriter James Vanderbilt concentrate on the toll the investigation takes on the people who are trying to catch the killer.
Avery becomes a target for the killer, Toschi’s career suffers as the case becomes more protracted and Graysmith’s marriage to his wife Melanie (Chloë Sevigny) collapses.
In many ways, “Zodiac” is sort of an anti-“C.S.I.” Whereas the TV series and its legion of spin-offs celebrate how the police have lots of nifty toys that catch bad guys, “Zodiac” emphasizes that investigating crimes is often a difficult and unrewarding task. San Francisco cops lacked today’s tools, but even today’s police can be undermined by an intrusive reporter.
The film loses some steam around the middle. It’s tempting to fault the length, but Graysmith’s later quest would not be as compelling if we didn’t know how tough it was for experienced professionals to capture the perpetrator.As a veteran of music videos, Fincher makes the 60 and 70s atmosphere look like an alien landscape. Thankfully, he’s also told a story that’s as engaging as the eye candy.
link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=15568&reviewer=382
originally posted: 03/11/07 18:37:52
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USA
02-Mar-2007 (R)
DVD: 24-Jul-2007
UK
18-May-2007 (15)
DVD: 24-Sep-2007
Australia
17-May-2007 (MA)
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