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Movie Review - Zodiac (2007)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
David Fincher |
| Starring: |
Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr., and Anthony Edwards |
| Rated: |
R (for some strong killings, language, drug material and brief sexual images) |
| Length: |
158 minutes |
| Genre: |
Crime/Drama/Thriller |
| Tagline: |
There's more than one way to lose your life to a killer. |
| Studio: |
Paramount Pictures |
| Website: |
Zodiac |
| Release: |
March 2, 2007 |
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PLOT
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Based on the actual case files of one of America's most compelling unsolved mysteries, Zodiac
tells the story of a cryptic serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area who taunts police with letters
and ciphers. Investigators in four jurisdictions desperately search for the murderer, but frustration
starts to set in as clues remain unresolved and obsession begins to ruin personal lives. Can a young
reporter step in and decipher what the experts can't? The chilling tale of the infamous Zodiac
ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Dark. Moody. Atmospheric. All words to describe a candlelight dinner with Johnny Betts. But these
words can also be used to accurately describe David Fincher's latest foray into the serial killer
genre.
Zodiac has been on my "most anticipated" list for quite some time, but having watched many
documentaries and read several articles on the subject, I couldn't help but wonder how the film could
completely keep my interest when I already knew so much about the material. Plus, we're all aware that
the case officially remains unresolved, so are we to resign ourselves to accept an unsatisfactory
conclusion?
It took no more than the film's chilling opening scene to cast my fears aside and glue me to the seat
for 158 minutes. My familiarity with the source material actually heightened my enjoyment because I
was surprised at how accurately the film depicted the events. I recognized names and details that I
wouldn't have otherwise.
I also feel that not definitively knowing the Zodiac's identity adds more suspense to the story. We're
introduced to a number of suspects, and since this is, in part, one man's interpretation of circumstantial
evidence, we're allowed to assume that any of the suspects could be the mysterious killer. It's a plot
device that effectively keeps the viewer in a constant state of unease.
I know there are multiple theories on the Zodiac's identity, so you can argue that the film ends on an
anticlimactic note. But the movie does have focus, and it presents a compelling case against one of the
suspects in such a way that it delivers as much closure as you can expect.
The actors are great (especially Downey and his welcome comic relief), the atmosphere is foreboding,
and the investigative process is engaging. It may run a little long for some, but I didn't mind the
runtime at all. It's a fascinating case, and I wanted all the information the movie was willing to give
me.
Zodiac is the kind of film that sticks with you. I was at a friend's house late after the screening,
and when I arrived home I saw a lone car's headlights appear from up the street. My heart began to race
a little as I hastened to my door. I knew then and there that a new Zodiac killer was in the vicinity,
and I had no time to tarry.
It's been a while since a movie instilled that sort of realistic dread, and I don't know if that's a good
thing, but it's certainly a sign (no pun intended) of the film's success in heightening our awareness of
what kind of real-life monsters might be lurking in the shadows.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- The film closely follows the books written by Robert Graysmith.
- No killer since Jack the Ripper had written the press and taunted the police with clues to his
identity.
- The Zodiac publicly claimed 13 victims, then two dozen more. Police pinned him with seven, five
dead. The true body count may never be known.
- Fincher combed through 10,000 pages of documents and evidence.
- Screenwriter James Vanderbilt says, "There was something very cool to me about the movie regarding the
power of words - the writer writing about the writer who was writing about the killer who became famous
because he was a great letter writer. Because that's really the reason Zodiac remains with us today, he
wrote scary [freaking] letters and not to the cops, but to other writers. Newspaper guys who went, "Oh,
[crap], this is pretty good. We should run it." So they did, and people read those letters, and we're
still talking about him decades later. The power of the written word."
- Graysmith wrote his "first person diaries" (Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked) because he wanted
to enlist the public in tracking down the killer.
- When examining police records, "I was also not allowed writing implements or paper so I had to commit
serial numbers and dates to memory. It made for rather long and spirited sessions afterward writing down
all I could recall," says Graysmith.
- Producer Brad Fischer comments on the public perception that the Zodiac was a genius, "It was the media
that turned Zodiac into this all-powerful enigma - I mean, he writes a letter and says, 'This is the Zodiac
speaking,' and then the newspapers start calling him 'The Cipher Slayer!' It's like seeing this gigantic
and terrifying shadow mutate against the wall, and then you understand the source is just one man who
clumsily shot five people and stabbed two others; and he snuck up on all of them. He's not 'Wile E.
Coyote Super Genius,' as we grew fond of calling him, he's a sad, pathetic and incredibly sick person who
came within inches of being caught. The rest was all in the public's head, ready and waiting for each
eager imagination to mold into a most powerful demon."
- Regarding the film's accuracy, Fischer says, "the process was long and difficult, but it was important
if we were going to tell the real story. So it was anathema to rely on any secondary or tertiary source.
Police reports became the rule. That, and, of course, the people that were there. It was really quite
simple: Let's find everyone we can who was materially involved in the investigation, and let's sit down
across from them, look them in the eye, ask them direct and sometimes difficult questions, and then hear
what they have to say."
- Mike Mageau is now homeless and hasn't really recovered since he was shot in 1969.
- Producer Arnold W. Messer says to his knowledge "this is probably the most extensively researched
script, the most meticulously accurate representation of actual events consistent with dramatic movies.
I've been producing 30 years and I have never been involved with a movie that has been this close to the
truth and the amount of research and energy put into it."
- Says Officer David Collins, "My part does not show up in the movie but I was interviewed for the DVD
so I have seen the movie. It was startling and I was riveted to the screen. I became very anxious
watching it because it was so true to life. It was very difficult for me to watch. During the time I
spent with Cecilia that day she kept saying `I'm freezing.' She was going into shock so I put my coat on
her and she wore it until the ambulance came. She was crying, injured so badly. She kept saying, `I
hurt all over. Give me something for the pain.' But I didn't have anything."
- "In 1969 an amateur code-breaking couple, the Hardens, broke the 312 symbol cryptogram that gave us
Zodiac's motive," Graysmith adds. "They had done what the NCIS, FBI and NSA could not."
- "Certainly, one of the most tantalizing aspects of the case is the still-unbroken ciphers that Zodiac
mailed us," notes Graysmith. "I still hold out hope that someone seeing the film or reading the books will
break the two cryptograms and map that Zodiac says tell us his name and location."
- "Dave Toschi was extremely well-known," says Fischer. "He served as the basis for Steve McQueen in
Bullitt, Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry and Michael Douglas in The Streets of San Francisco
(the 1970s' long-running hit television series)." Adds Medavoy: "They became legends off of
him."
- "The first chord you hear is an unresolved note," says composer David Shire. "There are 12 signs of the
Zodiac and there is a way of using atonal and tonal music. So we used 12 tones, never repeating any of them
but manipulating them. We were looking for patterns to play off the feeling of the story itself, the
patterns of a serial killer."
- One victim who survived the attack, Bryan Hartnell has a cameo appearance in the film as a detective in
the Hall of Justice.
- Mark Ruffalo was in All the King's Men with Patricia Clarkson who was in The Dead Pool
with Clint Eastwood who was in Blood Work with Alix Koromzay who was in Nightwatch with Josh
Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon. I hope you appreciate the effort to focus this sixth
degree connection around serial killer movies and a Dirty Harry film.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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This one is probably a little rough around the edges for mama to see this one in the theater, but it really
doesn't push any extremes. Profanity consists of probably less than 10 "f" bombs, and while there are a
handful of graphic deaths (including a realistically brutal stabbing), it's not overly gory or bloody.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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I thought the trailer was very effective in expressing the tone and atmosphere to expect.
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THE GIST
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Zodiac gives viewers an excellent combination of nerve-racking suspense and desperately obsessed
police procedural work. The majority of viewers with even the slightest interest in the case should be
riveted. Those of you with a severely small attention span should probably stick to Norbit instead.
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