There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer

Rating: 9/10 (3 August 2008)

Zodiac is one of those movies that might prove rewarding to the patient viewers. The movie is about three hours long and is based on the 1986 book "True Crime" by Robert Graysmith (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) about America's most sinister unsolved crimes: the San Francisco Bay Area serial killings by a person called Zodiac.
In it's style and presentation it almost seems like you are watching a long episode of Cold Case and is quite unlike David Fincher's previous movies (se7en, Fight Club). This subtle,straight forward and no frills approach could be a let down for some people. It is also not a movie that would be suitable for any kind of mood. I want to say it's similar to Shawshank Redemption in that it takes its time to develop and grow over you, however its not that rewarding, because of the fact that the killer never gets caught. It does narrow down to one suspect, but the investigators could not find enough evidence to nail him.
The movie spans a period of around 22 years starting on July 4th 1969 with Zodiac shooting Darlene Ferrin and Michael Mageau, who we later find out were very critical to finding the killer's identity or at least narrowing it down. In August 1969 the Zodiac letters begin to arrive. The first three are sent to Vallejo Times Herald, SF Chronicle and SF Examiner. The three letters had one part of a cryptogram each which according to him contained clues to his identity. He also took credit of the murders in these letters. Soon after these letters appear, four men go on his trail, a self-destructive ace reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), highly intelligent editorial cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) and the homicide detective David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) who is accompanied by his partner Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards). These four independently and sometimes working as a team gather tons and tons of circumstantial evidence and get so obsessed with catching the killer that it takes a toll on their personal lives. Ultimately David and Robert come very close to proving that Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch) is the real Zodiac, but there is no solid proof to their belief. However since the movie follows the book and findings of Robert Graysmith very closely so as an audience our perception is a bit skewed towards who Graysmith thought was the real killer. There were so many loose ends to this case that the case is still open in few Northern California counties, however SFPD shut the case down in April 2004.
The tag line of the movie "There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer", is very appropriate to the way each character is shown to throw away his life in the quest of Zodiac. It is in this aspect that the movie excels, however if you are expecting a thriller you'll be disappointed. There are few scenes here and there which create suspense, but they are few and the movie feels like a slow burn than an explosive suspenseful thriller. The direction is awesome for the kind of movie Fincher wanted to make and he recreates the 60s and 70s San Francisco successfully. However we've seen him make Se7en and Fight Club so something like this seems very "normal" for him to do and normal at times can be boring.
In terms of performances, Jake Gyllenhaal excels in the role of a geeky cartoonist who comes to life when he gets obsessed with the case. Robert Downey Jr. is funny and likable. It almost seemed that he was playing himself in the movie. Mark Ruffalo after starring in a few romantic movies, gets to showcase his acting prowess and he does a remarkable job as well. John Carroll Lynch as the prime suspect looks menacing at times.
It's tough to be harsh on a movie like Zodiac where you can see that a lot of work has gone into this movie both in terms of direction and acting. The movie has an interesting story line and the fact that it is true makes it even more exciting. It's the approach which will ultimately decide whether you like the movie or not. For me it worked to a certain extent and I usually like watching movies like this on a DVD. So if you are like me you might want to wait for it to come out.