On July 4, 1969, a man and woman were sitting in a car in a deserted location when another car arrived. The driver shot the couple multiple times, ultimately killing the woman. A few weeks later, some of the newspapers in San Francisco received letters and a code from a person claiming responsibility for the attack. He demanded that the code be published or he would go on a killing spree. In a future letter, the killer started to call himself Zodiac. He claimed responsibility for more murders, sometimes even sending along proof in his letters.

Robert Graysmith was working as a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle when the Zodiac letters began arriving. Robert was intrigued by the code and wanted to see the killer caught. He tried to find out what was going on with the Zodiac investigation and ended up forming a friendship with Paul Avery, a crime reporter that did several stories on Zodiac. Inspector David Toschi and Inspector William Armstrong were the detectives in charge of the case. They faced several obstacles including jurisdiction complications since the murders took place in different towns. Robert continued to be interested in the Zodiac case even as years passed and no arrests were made.

Zodiac followed the investigation in to the Zodiac murders that happened in California in the late 1960's and into the 1970's. The movie showed how the Zodiac investigation impacted other people like the police officers working on the case and two reporters. Robert Graysmith eventually ended up writing a book about the murders and the investigation. This movie was based on the book. I don’t know what might have been changed for the movie since I haven’t read the book.

Before I saw this movie, I really didn’t know that much about the Zodiac killer. I had heard of him, but I didn’t know anything specific, like exactly when the murders had taken place or who any of the suspects had been. The investigation was spread out over many years, lasting much longer than I had originally thought. The movie showed the major developments in the case, showing just how much time did pass. The movie did jump over large chunks of time when nothing happened with the case. When the movie would jump that way, the date would be shown on the screen which did help me to keep track of when everything was happening. There were a few times when a very short scene was set on a specific date before jumping forward to something else, sometimes months later. The short scenes did help to share some of the smaller details. Some of those things didn’t seem that important and they did slow the pace down at times. The movie could be too long for some viewers since it is over two and a half hours long. For the most part, the movie progressed at a decent pace, but there were a few times when the pace seemed to drag just a little bit.

Zodiac started off showing events on July 4, 1969, focusing on the attack on the couple in the car. The actual attack was shown, including when the victims were shot. That wasn’t pleasant to see, though it wasn’t as graphic as the violence in some other movies. Later attacks were also shown that included short bursts of violence. The movie really wasn’t violent overall even though the violence that was shown was rather graphic at times. Swearing was used throughout the movie, which also contributed to the movie being rated R. This is not a movie for children to see.

The trailers that I had seen for Zodiac did make it seem like the movie would be a suspenseful thriller. There was a bit of mystery related to the identity of the killer that really wasn’t resolved even though some suspects were introduced. There were times when I wasn’t sure what was going to happen next and I was kept guessing about a few things. There was really only one scene that was actually suspenseful and would fit for a thriller type of movie. I still enjoyed the movie even though it wasn’t exactly what I had expected before going to see it. Some people could be disappointed since the trailers did make it seem like it would be more suspenseful than it really was. There were some scenes that had some humor added in, maybe to lighten the mood. Most of those things were connected to something that either Robert or Paul did or said. Several of the humorous things seemed out of place.

Some of the people that the Zodiac attacked were briefly introduced before the attacks without them being really developed. The movie really focused on how the Zodiac investigation affected four men. David and William were partners assigned to a murder that took place in San Francisco that the Zodiac claimed responsibility for. The men ended up being in charge of the investigation which required them to deal with other police departments and travel to different towns in an effort to try to catch the killer. They had a lot of frustrations and were pushed to the breaking point by the investigation. There really wasn’t much shared about their personal lives. Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards were good in the parts.

Paul Avery was a well-known crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle when the paper started receiving the letters from Zodiac. He ended up writing many articles on the murders and even received a letter from Zodiac. Paul drank a lot and used drugs, which ultimately interfered with his ability to do his job. Robert Downey Jr. was really good in the part. Robert was a cartoonist for the paper and really had no reason to get involved in anything related to the Zodiac investigation. That didn’t stop him from being pulled in. He became obsessed with the case for some reason, causing him problems in his personal life. A bit more about his life was shared than had been for the other characters. Jake Gyllenhaal was fine in the part. A few other characters were around in several scenes without being as important or developed.

Main Cast

Brian Cox - Melvin Belli
Robert Downey Jr. - Paul Avery
Anthony Edwards - Inspector William Armstrong
Jake Gyllenhaal - Robert Graysmith
John Carroll Lynch - Arthur Leigh Allen
Mark Ruffalo - Inspector David Toschi
Chloe Sevigny - Melanie

David Fincher - Director

Zodiac was a very interesting movie about a real serial killer. I did enjoy the movie and feel that it is worth watching even though it really wasn’t a thriller like the trailers made it out to be.


Recommended: Yes