Zodiac Review
By David Kempler
Killer Examination of Human Obsession
Beginning in the late 60's, and through the mid 70's, Northern California had Zodiac Killer fever. He was a self-named serial killer who became a cult figure, especially in the San Francisco Bay area. His fame was derived from his letters to SFPD and the major daily newspapers in San Francisco. In these letters that contained cryptograms, he taunted the authorities as being incapable of finding him and no one is totally certain who he really was, although one man was eventually considered the most likely suspect by many.
The case has been examined in detail on numerous occasions on film and television and "Dirty Harry" was loosely based on the case.
The latest and by far best portrayal of the case is the recently released "Zodiac". The movie sizzles with tension. Director David Fincher, who has shown in the past ("Panic Room", "Fight Club" and "Se7en") that he is a master of suspense has pulled it off again, with a work every bit as good as his previous efforts, and perhaps his best to date. Fincher has a rich cast to work with here, including special nods to Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr, all of whom do a great job.
"Zodiac" isn't about the killings. It is about the obsession of solving a crime that haunts all that come into contact with it. The two central police figures here are Inspectors Toschi (Ruffalo) and Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) but it is not them that Fincher spends most of his time with. Instead he presents us with the view from the newspapers that receive the letters from the killer, specifically reporter Paul Avery (Downey Jr.) as a hippiesh abuser of all that can alter his mood and to an even greater extent, young newspaper cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) who watches his entire life unravel as he delves deeper and deeper into the depths of the case, trying desperately to get into the mind of the Zodiac killer.
The movie evolves into an examination of all the figures surrounding the case rather than an examination of the killer, as in most films. The technique is very effective and the "Zodiac" moves at a nice clip, never really letting up or giving the audience a chance to relax. Everything plays realistically. It all appears believable down to its most minute details and there is not a false note played anywhere. None of the phony red herrings that have become the stiflingly boring norm of most suspense films.
"Zodiac" is a pleasure to experience. It is sometimes uncomfortable because of the subject matter but it never loses momentum. It is relentless. How many times have you come out of the theater saying something like" Yeah, I like those scenes, but…..". Don't worry about that here. Almost every scene in "Zodiac" is a "killer".
