Zodiac Review

Yesterday, I watched the movie Zodiac.  I went into this movie thinking that it would be more of a thriller or a bit of a horror, but it was a little bit different than I anticipated it to be.  It definitely had more mystery than I thought it would, and it was also a great crime and cops movie.  

The movie starts with a bang when you’re taken into a nostalgic 60’s setting and you are introduced to teenage couple going out for the night.  The couple then goes for a drive and stops at a gravel parking lot in the middle of nowhere.  They are then tailed in the lot by a mysterious car, that goes away, then comes back.  A man gets out of the car, goes to the passenger side of the car, and shoots the couple to death.  This introduction is violent, thrilling, and a bit shocking.  It definitely gives you a sense of what kind of movie you’re about to watch, and gives you a great introduction to the mysterious Zodiac killer.

The next hour and a half of the movie is a fast-paced and intricately timelined puzzle, where the cops, investigators, reporters, and detectives in the movie are trying to solve the codes that are sent to them by the Zodiac killer, and find out who it is.  

First, before I get into how the plot works well for this movie, let’s talk about how GREAT of a cast this movie has.  In all of David Fincher’s movies, there are great casts, as seen in movies like Fight Club, Gone Girl, and Se7en.  In Zodiac, there are amazing actors like Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo.  After I explain why the plot structure and transitions are so great in this movie, I’ll explain the importance of each of these actors and their characters.

The plot structure and the transitions in this movie fit very well because the way the movie flows makes the audience feel like they’re a part of the case.  It makes the audience feel like they’re trying to figure out who the Zodiac killer is themselves.  The transitions in the movie keep it in a easy to follow timeline, which helps the audience understand how much time was put into the case of the killer.  The transitions consist of a new date, the time that passed from the last scene or scenes, and the location of the next scenes.

Now, let’s get into the importance of the main characters in this movie.  Mark Ruffalo’s character, David Toschi, provides a great perspective on how the cops felt about the Zodiac case, since he was the main contributor to the case as a cop.  His character also gives the audience an understanding on how frustrating and intense the case was for cops.

Robert Downey Jr.’s character, Paul Avery, shows a much different perspective of the case than Mark Ruffalo’s character.  You could even say that he was a direct contrast to Ruffalo’s character.  Paul Avery is obnoxious, cocky, and gets in the way of the cops, while trying to do his own thing the entire time.  He also gives up on the case pretty easily, which isn’t what Ruffalo’s character did in the movie.  Paul Avery also turns out to be an alcoholic and a low-life, which shows how the Zodiac case had gotten into people’s heads and tormented those involved.  

The most important character, in my opinion, was Jake Gyllenhaal’s character, Robert Graysmith.  In the movie, he’s the most helpful, and most passionate character of them all.  Which is ironic, because he’s a newspaper cartoonist.  He’s not affiliated with the press, or the police, yet he’s the one that keeps interest in the case, and does more investigating and puzzle-solving than anyone else.  But, although his character shows a very helpful and passionate side to the case, he also shows the most obsessive and crazed side of any character in the movie.  It seems like his character almost went insane over the Zodiac case.  It’s haunting to think that people acted that way when trying to find the killer, but it also shows how sometimes the police aren’t always the best help when it comes to solving crimes.

This movie is also very dynamic.  It has themes of crime, mystery, horror, and can be a thriller.  At first, the movie is a crime/horror/thriller, then it slows down later in the movie when it focuses on Robert Graysmith’s investigative work and turns more into a suspenseful mystery.  Due to this movie having all these different kinds of genres implemented into it, it keeps the story interesting and intriguing.  

The elements that make up every movie are the script and screenplay, the actors,  the cinematography, and the directing. I’ve said how this movie has great actors, a great script and great screenplay, but now I want to focus on how great of job David Fincher did with directing this movie.  He got the movie to feel dark and suspenseful throughout the ENTIRE duration of the movie, and that’s a pretty daunting task since the movie is 2 and a half hours.  He also got the characters to keep their importance and emotions intact with the plot.  David Fincher also kept the story very detailed, but made the details of the case easy to follow and understand.

The cinematography of this movie is also very well done.  The cinematography is done in a way to make the movie feel dark and realistic, which is great since the story is dark and it’s a true story.  The cinematographer, Harry Savides, has worked on movies such as American Gangster, which is also dark and based on real events,  The Game, which is also a dark thriller, and Milk, which is based on true events.  Due to Harry Savides’ experience on movies that are dark and are based on real events, he is very fit for Zodiac.

Overall, this movie is great to watch if you’re into mystery-thrillers, or crime-dramas.  It’s very interesting and thrilling, and it keeps you thinking and guessing after you watch it.  The only reason some wouldn’t like this movie is due to the length of the film.  It does go on a little too long, which is why I bumped down my original grade that I had from a 9 to an 8.5.

I would definitely recommend watching it, and I would even watch it again in the future.

MOVIE GRADE:  8.5/10

***Spoilers!!!***

DO NOT READ AHEAD IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE AND DON’T WANT TO KNOW THE ENDING OR OUTCOME OF THE STORY!!!

This movie is a great representation and look on the Zodiac killer’s case.  But, the movie stays true to the actual story of the case, and the case is still an open case to this day.  So, of course, they never find the killer in the movie.

But, this does not make the movie any less of a great movie, it actually gets the audience to feel the frustration and anger that the detectives and investigators felt when they tried to solve the case.  Although they got extremely close to finding the killer, and had a prime suspect that was the only possible person to be the actual killer, they never truly found the killer.

The reason why the movie got me to feel frustration and anger, isn’t really because they didn’t find the killer, it’s because Jake Gyllenhaal’s character was literally IN THE HOUSE of the actual killer, but for some reason he never talked about that guy again???  He never even mentioned the name “Bob Vaughn” again.  You could even see the look on Gyllenhaal’s face when he went to Vaughn’s house, and understood that he could be the killer.  That’s what REALLY confused me about the movie.  But, even though I truly believe that Bob Vaughn could’ve been the killer, or at least involved in helping the killer, it could be a form of trickery that David Fincher purposely used in the movie.  He could’ve purposely wanted the viewers to think that Bob Vaughn was the killer, in order to place a further theme of paranoia and obsession in the movie.  For example, the “footsteps” that Robert heard in the basement scene could’ve been in his head.  He could’ve been so obsessed with the case that even a somewhat creepy person or setting could cause him to be frightened.