Review: Zodiac (2007)

People in the Movie: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., John Carroll Lynch

Director: David Fincher

Pigeonhole: Drama / True Crime / Ensemble Cast

The Basics: The movie is based on two books written by author Robert Graysmith about the Zodiac killings in California the 1960’s and 70’s.  The Zodiac’s true identity still remains a matter of speculation (although the movie points primarily at one suspect), and no person was ever tried or convicted for any of the murders. 

The year is 1969; Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) is working at the San Francisco Chronicle as an editorial cartoonist, while Paul Avery (Downey) works the crime beat at the paper.  They are drawn into the Zodiac case after the suspect mails the lead editor a letter that describes several murders he has recently committed; threatens the city at large with violence if his demands are not met; and with a cypher that supposedly reveals the Zodiac’s identity.  Graysmith seems intrigued with the case, while Avery seems a bit flippant thinking the Zodiac is just “crazy”, and just another story for the paper.  Dave Toschi (Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) are a San Francisco Police Inspectors who soon become involved after the Zodiac kills a cab driver.  The rest of the movie (spanning more than a decade) is spent with the police investigating, but failing to make an arrest (for multiple reasons); Avery eventually leaving San Francisco in a cloud of paranoia after being threatened by the Zodiac and drowning himself in alcohol; Graysmith becoming obsessed with Zodiac at the cost of his personal life, and his safety; and the Zodiac killing more people and cruelly taunting the police and the public at large.  Graysmith zeros in on one suspect named Arthur Leigh Allen (Lynch) with a pile of circumstantial evidence and a possible witness, but like Jack the Ripper, the Zodiac fades into history as one of the great unsolved serial killer mysteries. 

Recommendation:  For fans of “true crime” stories, and fans of the actors and director involved, this movie is a real treat.  I should note the movie is over two and half hours, and much of what you see is detail, nuance, and dialogue- versus action, which some people could interpret as boring.   ‘R’ rating is for violence and language. 

My Take: Having read both of Graysmith’s books about the Zodiac prior to the movie, and later learning that David Fincher was directing – I was very excited to see how this film would unfold on the big screen.  This is an excellent period piece, and it is very clear that Fincher took great care in making both the characters and the historical incidents to look and feel as genuine as possible, based on the case information that was available regarding these crimes.

**spoiler alert** I think Fincher did an outstanding job of creating the look of this film, which takes place mostly in the 1970’s; as well as guiding the acting.  Overall we see most of the characters go into a slow downward spirals of frustration, anger, loss, and in some cases substance abuse.  Having read about the real case, my opinion is that every actor was cast perfectly into his and her roles, and the problems that unfolded throughout this (still unsolved) investigation were highlighted extremely well within the constraints of on screen time.  As I noted earlier, there is not a lot of “action” to witness as one might see in a typical cop drama/police procedural, nor is there any gratuitous on screen violence one could expect from a typical serial killer type movie.  Zodiac uses great acting, dialogue, music score, lighting, and background to take the audience to California during this period in time.  Fincher creates alarm and tension primarily seen through the eyes of the media, and a nerve-racking sense of helplessness through the eyes of the various law enforcement agencies as they investigate every lead possible to capture this predator, but with no results.   

In addition to the serial killings this type of case might now be also referred to as a form of domestic terrorism, with the way that Zodiac was creating fear and panic using the newspapers as his forum making threats to shoot at school buses and set off bombs in San Francisco (the Zodiac only threatened these later actions in various letters to the newspapers).  While the movie never really stated it outright, it could be implied that the Zodiac was smarter than his pursuers, at least in the ability to cover his motives, means, and opportunities given the number of crimes he committed, the fact he chose to taunt police publicly (giving him further exposure to possible witnesses), and the number of people (police and civilians alike) that would have been committed to investigating all the different crime at any point through the decade.

Because I knew where the Zodiac case stood, there was nothing that surprised me about the end of the film, and I felt it was wrapped up perfectly.  I will say however, if you were previously unfamiliar with what had happened throughout the case and its proverbial “conclusion”, you might be disappointed, as this is not a Hollywood ending.  As noted above the Zodiac was never brought to justice, and if Arthur Leigh Allen was, in fact, the Zodiac killer I suppose there is an additional amount of frustration knowing that he took his possible guilt with him to the grave, and I find it even more ironic that he died possibly just days ahead of his pending arrest.         

Beyond the already noted actors- Brian Cox, Chloe Sevigny, Elias Koteas, Dermont Melrony, Donal Logue, and Philip Baker Hall all had great supporting roles in this film, and is yet another reason to really enjoy it.   

Final Thoughts/ Extras/ For Fun: The director’s cut of the DVD/ Blu-Ray has a bunch of extra features on the Zodiac killer and Arthur Leigh Allen that I highly recommend seeing… Robert Graysmith has conceded that it is possible Arthur Leigh Allen was not the Zodiac killer…