A Story of Murder and Obsession

Rating: 8/10 (26 July 2007)

The Zodiac killer is one of the most perplexing mysteries in American History. The Zodiac left a trail of fear and death for over two years from 1968 to 1970 with at least five killed and perhaps more though police were never able to link other deaths to the Zodiac. Just as he suddenly appeared he disappeared without a trace and left a scared and confused state behind. It was his name, the Zodiac, which stood for the mysterious killer who was known for sending in codes to various San Francisco papers which contained threats and promises of further murder. It was that combination that made the Zodiac standout as a particularly violent and dangerous murderer.
Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a young, single father who works as a cartoonist with the San Francisco Chronicle. When the murders begin he is one of many who is drawn to the mysterious codes being since to the Chronicle and other papers in San Francisco. Along with crime reporter Paul Avery (Ropert Downey Jr.), Robert begins a personal quest of his own to discover the identity of the Zodiac while Inspector David Toschi(Mark Ruffalo) along with his partner Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) investigate directly with the SFPD. Robert, Paul, and David will especially find their lives turned upside down as the search for the Zodiac lasts not just months but years. Turning into an obsession for each of them that affects their lives in unexpected ways.
And that is what makes Zodiac standout in the field of crime movies. Instead of focusing just on the murders themselves, Zodiac pays more attention to the personal lives and feelings of those trying to find the answer to one of the most important murder investigations in US History. Robert, who remarries within the years of the investigation, finds his second marriage troubled after his wife fears for their family safety after his public pursuit of the Zodiac, Paul loses himself in drugs and alcohol (a trend he was already starting on earlier), while David is demoted after a possible scandal within the SFPD and his investigation. Even during these troubles Robert is the only one who continues the search in an all consuming quest to find the answer that has now become a haunting obsession.
The Zodiac to this day remains a mystery even though one suspect, a former teacher named Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch), becomes particularly important subject for Robert and David. Arthur, both in reality and in the movie, was cleared by the police from any link to the murders but is Robert and Paul's belief, and thus the movies conclusion, that Arthur was indeed the Zodiac.
What is the price of obsession and what price is worth losing everything that you value? Zodiac asks these questions and, much as it does by not telling who the real killer was, doesn't give a direct answer.