zodiac 2007

Zodiac (2007)

With Halloween this week, I turned my armchair towards the really

creepy movie, Zodiac. This is the film that tells the story of the

Zodiac Killer who had a string of serial murders starting in the late

60's and continuing into the 70's. He taunted investigators with his

letters to the newspapers often containing ciphers and other cryptic

messages. Zodiac stars Jake Gyllenhall, Mark Ruffalo, and Anthony

Edwards.

The film opens in 1968, at what became to be known as the Lake Herman

killing. Zodiac shoots two high school students who are at a desolate

lover's lane. He then calls the police to tell them where to find the

bodies. After his next murder, he sends letters to the local papers

and describes details that only the killer would know, along with a

substitution cipher. Creepy.

As the film develops, it is mostly formulaic. One seriously creepy

murder after another, although this killer, unlike some other serial

murders doesn't follow a strict pattern as he uses different methods,

and age groups.

Somewhat predictably, as is par for the course in such films, the

police are seen as rather inept, and several steps behind the Zodiac

Killer as the spree develops, and the bodies pile up. Hampering their

efforts is that the murders took place in different counties, and

they're not doing a good job of sharing the leads and information that

develops. Ruffalo and Edwards ably play two of the detectives on the

case.

As this story develops, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhall), a

political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper becomes

rather obsessed with this story. He eventually quits his job to

investigate the Zodiac murders full time. His efforts culminate in a

published book, Zodiac.

This was a good choice for a creepy Halloween thriller, but it really

was only slightly above average. For starters, it's over two and half

hours, and it definitely needed some nip and tuck to keep the pace

tighter. Maybe we didn't need to portray every murder in such detail?

In addition, while there is plenty of tension, it doesn't build like

it could have as the story progresses; at times it feels like we're

going nowhere fast, and we are. Also, while it is well acted, there is

no standout performance here. Finally, Zodiac is kind of a downer, as

these folks become obsessed with the killer, and it ruins their lives

as they pursue him. Therefore, if you really want a crime thriller

then this is a reasonable choice, but I would say that it is good, and

not excellent.

Of note, the Zodiac case is still open, and while there was one

suspect that seemed likely, forensic evidence using modern DNA

analysis did not support him being the killer.

Overall Grade: B

Reviewed by Jonas

Posted by digitaldoc at 10:29