zodiac paramountwarner bros 2007

ZODIAC (PARAMOUNT/WARNER BROS., 2007)**

By Rick Jackson

Directed by David Fincher (Seven, Panic Room), Zodiac is a weak

thriller about the killer of the film's title who murdered several

people in San Francisco in the late 1960s and early 1970s. After a

good first hour, it slowly begins to fall apart as it gets bogged down

in too much dialogue and not enough action. When the identity of the

zodiac killer is left as a mystery halfway through, the story gets

re-energized when Robert Graysmith desperately wants to find him for

the book he's writing about the case.

The screenplay by James Vanderbilt holds your attention with the

killing spree at the beginning. The killer's face is left obscured or

hidden as if Fincher might know his identity and is waiting for the

right moment to shock us. Unfortunately, it never comes and the entire

story ends up being a generic film about a killer and his victims.

Jake Gyllenhaal does his best to inject some credibility as the

fictional Graysmith, a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle whose

passing interest in the zodiac case becomes an obsession. In this

Hollywood treatment of the story, he is uncomfortably turned into the

WASP hero which unfailingly leads to a satisfying conclusion. The real

Graysmith's book inspired the film.

Co-star Robert Downey Jr. is unconvincing as Chronicle reporter Paul

Avery as he literally inhales the news of the killer as if he were on

drugs. His interest on the job leads him to getting drunk which serves

no logical purpose except to, maybe, show him as a hippie left over

from the summer of '67, aka "the summer of love." He is definitely out

of character here, especially in the second half when he becomes a

reclusewhen he can't handle the responsibility of the zodiac case.

Sharing the spotlight is Mark Ruffalo as Inspector David Toschi, a

disbelieving cop whose portrayal is more as the archtypical devil's

advocate when it comes to sorting out the details. In the second half,

he becomes the annoying experienced police detective when he faces

Graysmith's results from his research.

The rest of the cast features an unrecognizable Chloe Sevigney as

Melanie, Graysmith's wife, Brian Cox as attorney Melvin Belli, and

Anthony Edwards as Inspector William Armstrong.

Under Fincher's direction, the second half is ruined by slow paced

direction and a tendency to reduce the story as an adjunct to inside

politics within more than one police department. You get the

impression, too, the killer's real identity may be a best-kept secret

which isn't fully developed. When Graysmith acts like the hero in the

last half-hour, you are left thinking maybe he really knows what he's

talking about. Without divulging too much more, the film ends a low

note with a written epilogue about what happened to the main

characters in real-life.

Unlike Breach which was far superior as a spy yarn, Zodiac is a major

disappointment despite it's good cast. It is rated 14A, with the

warnings: violence, disturbing content and coarse language.

March 17, 2007