Pretty Damn Good!

Rating: 9/10 (1 January 2014)

I like crime dramas that make you think and Zodiac certainly does just that. For those readers of this blog Zodiac is based on a real life crime in which a serial killer in California in the late 1960's and early 1970's killed at least 7 people and wounded 2, those were confirmed. Another five victims are suspected of being committed by Zodiac. The reason this is such an interesting story is because of the mystery and that the crime has never been solved.
The movie, made in 2007, follows pretty much all of the actual events. Some of the victims were switched around. There is a lot of the story that pertains to the personal lives of the newspapermen and detectives.
Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) catches the amateur detective bug when he sees the first cipher the Zodiac killer sent to The San Francisco Chronicle in 1969. Graysmith was a political cartoonist turned true crime author. Because of the Zodiac case Graysmith changed careers; in the movie it almost became an obsession to the point that it cost him his marriage, or so it seemed.
In the movie, Inspector David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Inspector William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) catch the case of the attack in San Francisco. They consolidate all of the other attacks and pretty much take over the investigations. Eventually Inspector Armstrong leaves the investigation because the investigation has gone cold. Inspector Toschi is eventually removed from the case because he was accused of writing one of the several letters The Zodiac sent to one of the newspapers.
One of the prime suspects, Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch), is investigated several times. All the evidence pointed to Allen, especially after Graysmith began his investigation and started piecing everything together. One of the clues was a phone call that Melvin Belli (Brian Cox) received, or rather his housekeeper, the caller, presumably The Zodiac, mentioned it was his birthday. Graysmith figures out that the date The Zodiac called was December 18th, which so happens to be Allen's birthday. However, before Allen could be brought in Allen died of a fatal heart attack.
I actually liked this movie. All the actors played their roles pretty well. I give this 9 stars out of 10.