Zodiac Film Review

Rating: 7/10 (1 March 2007)

People expecting to see another Seven will be disappointed, but that does not mean in any way that David Finchers newest thriller is not a success. Preoccupied with the bureaucracy's and failures of communication Zodiac deals not with the mind of the killer himself, nor the characters pursuing him, but instead focuses on the procedural department of this three decade spanning investigation. Instead of consuming their lives with the serial killer himself, the three main pursuers are engulfed in a battle with paper work and attempted county to county cooperation. What the film deals with is not the nail biting, stomach churning murders that Seven drew upon so well, but the actual procedures the Zodiac took in his killings. Unfortunately it seems Fincher chose to direct this epic crime drama of over two and a half hours without any of his visual style. With the exception of a handful of memorable shots including a shot of a letter inside a mail box being walked through a building until it reaches its receiver, and a brilliantly engaging shot that follows a taxi cab from a helicopter view, Zodiac seems very lackluster especially considering this is coming from the man who brought us the visually stunning Fight Club.
Despite this visual setback, Zodiac never feels boring or contrived, and I cannot be sure yet if this was because of my interest in the case itself or due to Fincher's smooth direction. Either way the film must be praised for telling a story with no resolution and never getting lost in its own path. Trying to tell a story like this, of an unsolved murder case, is a perceptive look into the minds of the obsessed. It exemplifies how one man can psychologically blind people from the outside world concentrating all attention on himself. Again, many people looking for the suspense and blood shed they enjoyed in Se7en will be introduced to a new form of torture, which in this case is psychological.
Jake Gyllenhaal plays Graysmith, a cartoon artist who becomes obsessed with the Zodiac case during his employment at the San Fransisco Chronicle. Gyllenhaal plays more of a supporting role in this, even though the trailers would like us to think otherwise. Mark Ruffallo, playing a detective out of Vallero county takes most of the screen time with his purposely low key voice, which seems to distract more than sooth as its striving intentions might want us to believe. Zodiac is more of collective cast adding Chloe Sevigny, Graysmith's wife dealing with his obsession and Robert Downey Jr. playing Paul Avery a reporter whose addiction to cocaine and alcohol must be a throwback to the actor himself. Obviously this powerful cast helps keep this film together as it follows its three act structure, making each character more important as one act ends and another begins. The first act deals with the media and their reactions to what appeared as legitimate threats. THe second act pushes into a bout with several detectives all dealing with same problem of miscommunication. And the third act introduces us to Graysmith's ongoing obsession with the unsolved murder mystery.
Audiences falling in line for Zodiac expecting another Se7en are likely to be bored and disappointed overall. This movie is low-key and tasteful, avoiding any embellishments, and sticking to the facts of this case. Zodiac is not trying to scare people or even pull them into the world of a serial killer the way Se7en did so well. Instead this is a film about procedural's and communication, which might be a very distracting set of issues for someone to deal with, when going into a supposed thriller.