ZodiacAn unsolved mystery can be a real carrot for inquisitive minds; but how far down the rabbit hole is too far? Zodiac is a procedural thriller adapted from the true crime book of the same name by Robert Graysmith. It is a dramatization of the people who attempted to catch the infamous Zodiac Killer who terrorized California from the late Sixties and into the Seventies. As the police desperately try to complie evidence and handwriting comparisons, amateur sleuth and cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Graysmith--played by Jake Gyllenhaal--puts pieces of the puzzle together, and grows increasingly obsessed with identifying the elusive murderer.
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Zodiac is a tense and fast-moving suspense film, with lots of twists and turns, and lots of false leads and clues. This speaks to the overwhelming amount of information (and misinformation) that plagued the police, ultimately leading to the case being technically considered unsolved. For Robert, the mystery amounts to an itch he cannot scratch, and what starts as a hobby inevitably alters the very scope of his literary career. What makes Robert such a compelling character is how unlikely of a protagonist he is for a procedural. He is an everyman who puts the pieces together that have been inefficiently compartmentalized by a jurisdictional system whose inherent bureaucracy complicates the investigation. That's not to say that highly intelligent and determined officers--like San Francisco Police Department's Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards)--are not capable of doing their jobs, but that the killer is cagey enough to exploit these facets to his advantage. But Robert is out of his element at the Chronicle, since the "crime beat" is historically handled by the hot-shot celebrity journalist, Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.), who entertains Robert's "looming", since it advances his journalistic goals as well. Robert essentially networks with all of the parties working individually to unmask the killer, even after years pass and it becomes just a bad memory for some. There are suspects mentioned during Zodiac; as in Graysmith's book, the most likely suspect is a lumbering man named Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch), who Toschi feels in his gut is the killer after an awkward and uncomfortable interview. The most frustrating element for the investigative parties is that the only evidence to link one person or another is circumstantial, as if deliberately meant to lead the investigators in the wrong direction. Like many notorious unsolved serial killings, Zodiac thrives on baiting the audience into believing that we will get some insight that no one else knows about this mystery, and keeps us entranced for upward of three hours in the process. Scenes which precede a killing are ominous and portend of the violence to come; these moments linger like a pit in the stomach, pregnant with tension in anticipation of the next brutal act of violence. This is a testament to director David Fincher's ability to vitalize this cold case in a way that makes for chilling and terrifying drama.
One of the motifs in Zodiac is how the Zodiac killings mark the "end" of the Sixties. The film opens with a murder that occurs on the Fourth of July in 1969, and these killings continue through the 1970s. Essentially, the film presents the idea that--along with other notorious murders, like the Manson Family killings--that these acts of horrible violence represent the metaphorical "murder" of the era of "free love" and a bloody end to innocence. The Zodiac Killer is a dark herald of a cynical, even paranoid, sensibility which the film suggests permeated the 1970s. On the other hand, while the initial swell of attention that comes with the Zodiac Killer's letters to the Chronicle makes the killings seem urgent, others--like a time-lapse construction of a skyscraper, or the frequent titles that show the years passing--reveals that life does indeed go on. As the time passes, this war of attrition has caught up with the Zodiac Killer's pursuers. Avery becomes a habitual drug user and alcoholic, leaving his job for something implied to be beneath his reputation. After a false accusation about Toschi writing one of the Zodiac letters himself, he is ultimately removed from homicide. As Robert becomes more and more obsessed with the case, it transforms into a solo crusade--to be the "boy scout" he actually is and do the right thing. At the start of Zodiac, Robert is a divorcee, taking care of his son as a single dad. He starts dating and has what some might call a tragic first date with Melanie (Chloë Sevigny), although she does become his second wife, and they have more children together. But even on that first date, Robert is consumed with details about to the Zodiac Killer, and is worried for the safety of his colleague, Paul Avery. Melanie entertains his obsessive drive to do the right thing, but even she has her limits when Robert's enthusiasm threatenes to inadvertently put the family's welfare at risk. One of the most tense scenes in Zodiac comes when Robert believes he has found a lead onto a suspect, and goes to visit an informant's home. Robert experiences an internal crisis here and he has to make a choice about how important this crusade truly is in his life--whether he should continue deeper into the darkness where safety is not guaranteed. Robert is forced to confront the possibility that his pursuit of the Zodiac Killer is not exclusively motivated by an urge to see justice done, but that it is also motivated out of a sense of individual pride--there are two sides to everything. Since Zodiac is adapted from Graysmith's book, it's clear that he ultimately completed his opus; the film explores what kind of insight he got about himself in the process.
Recommended for: Fans of an engaging procedural drama about one of the most notorious, unsolved serial killings in comparatively recent history. Zodiac also forces the audience to ask itself how far one should go to solve a mystery, and what the real cost of that obsession is.
One of the motifs in Zodiac is how the Zodiac killings mark the "end" of the Sixties. The film opens with a murder that occurs on the Fourth of July in 1969, and these killings continue through the 1970s. Essentially, the film presents the idea that--along with other notorious murders, like the Manson Family killings--that these acts of horrible violence represent the metaphorical "murder" of the era of "free love" and a bloody end to innocence. The Zodiac Killer is a dark herald of a cynical, even paranoid, sensibility which the film suggests permeated the 1970s. On the other hand, while the initial swell of attention that comes with the Zodiac Killer's letters to the Chronicle makes the killings seem urgent, others--like a time-lapse construction of a skyscraper, or the frequent titles that show the years passing--reveals that life does indeed go on. As the time passes, this war of attrition has caught up with the Zodiac Killer's pursuers. Avery becomes a habitual drug user and alcoholic, leaving his job for something implied to be beneath his reputation. After a false accusation about Toschi writing one of the Zodiac letters himself, he is ultimately removed from homicide. As Robert becomes more and more obsessed with the case, it transforms into a solo crusade--to be the "boy scout" he actually is and do the right thing. At the start of Zodiac, Robert is a divorcee, taking care of his son as a single dad. He starts dating and has what some might call a tragic first date with Melanie (Chloë Sevigny), although she does become his second wife, and they have more children together. But even on that first date, Robert is consumed with details about to the Zodiac Killer, and is worried for the safety of his colleague, Paul Avery. Melanie entertains his obsessive drive to do the right thing, but even she has her limits when Robert's enthusiasm threatenes to inadvertently put the family's welfare at risk. One of the most tense scenes in Zodiac comes when Robert believes he has found a lead onto a suspect, and goes to visit an informant's home. Robert experiences an internal crisis here and he has to make a choice about how important this crusade truly is in his life--whether he should continue deeper into the darkness where safety is not guaranteed. Robert is forced to confront the possibility that his pursuit of the Zodiac Killer is not exclusively motivated by an urge to see justice done, but that it is also motivated out of a sense of individual pride--there are two sides to everything. Since Zodiac is adapted from Graysmith's book, it's clear that he ultimately completed his opus; the film explores what kind of insight he got about himself in the process.
Recommended for: Fans of an engaging procedural drama about one of the most notorious, unsolved serial killings in comparatively recent history. Zodiac also forces the audience to ask itself how far one should go to solve a mystery, and what the real cost of that obsession is.