'Zodiac' pokes fun at people who are obsessed by serial killer films

Rating: Null/10 (4 March 2007)

'Zodiac' pokes fun at people who are obsessed by serial killer films -

Although I don't want to deprive anyone of their enjoyment of 'Zodiac', I'm estimating that approximately 99 percent of the audience will not understand this film. This might have a lot to do with the fact that 99 percent of the audience came to see a film about a serial killer, and are more likely than not, obsessed about serial killers themselves. An audience hoping to revel in the gory details of human suffering probably won't be interested in the true meaning of a film like 'Zodiac'.
Instead of offering us a gore-fest, David Fincher turns our attention to the cold and exploitative media machine (the well-worn media catch phrase, "If it bleeds it leads", says it all), and points a critical finger at the bureaucratic nightmare of police work. This film also points a finger at audiences who lap up the sordid details about senseless killings without ever really considering the lives that have been lost. Personally I'm much more frightened by people who are able to discuss the victims of serial killers as if they're talking about a slab of meat, than by the serial killers themselves. Feel free to disagree, but I think David Fincher feels the same way.
By focusing our attention on the self-destructively obsessive Graysmith character, Fincher shows us how this "retarded" little man loses his family, his job, and his sense of perspective as he pursues the story. Several characters in the film ask him why he's so obsessed about the loss of a few lives when hundreds of other people are being murdered every year. Think about it - at most a serial killer has a few dozen victims, while countless others lose their lives in equally senseless ways. The biggest difference is that the media profits from turning a serial killer into a celebrity, and the serial killer basks in the media adulation and notoriety. Actually, the relationship between the media and serial killers is almost perfect - they truly need each other. Sadly though, public interest in such cases is what really feeds the media frenzy.
Phew! Now that I've carved up the film itself, I will comment on the performances. The cast is excellent, with one BIG exception - Jake Gyllenhall (sp?) is way over his head. I assume that Fincher cast him because of studio politics, because he obviously was incapable of playing the character of Graysmith. Then again, this is the same director who cast that chunk-of- wood otherwise known as Brad Pitt in Se7en. And yes, I am a heterosexual woman, but bad acting is bad acting.
If you want to see a film that pokes fun at our societal obsession with serial killers, 'Zodiac' is the film for you.