Robert's Review
Based on the actual case files, "Zodiac" is the story of the serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area from 1968 to the early 1970s. The killer himself chose the name "Zodiac" and was one of the most elusive serial killers in history. To this day, the case is still open, although the prime suspect is dead. The Zodiac would kill at random and then taunt the police and newspapers with phone calls and letters, confessing that the murders were his doing. Most often, his letters were written in code and he'd force newspapers to print his cipher to help garner more media attention. In fact, he was a huge media whore who would often take credit for other killers' murders in addition to his own. The police had a very hard time working on this case because there were four different jurisdictions that were investigating the Zodiac killer and most often, they didn't share important info with one another like they should have done. Jurisdictional bureaucracy, combined with the fact that the police could never pin the evidence on their prime suspect, allowed this killer to walk free for many, many years. However, during that entire time, some people were still digging for clues and trying to prove who the Zodiac was... Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) led that charge. He was a cartoonist for the newspaper by day and an amateur sleuth by night; who went on to publish a book about the Zodiac killer in 2002.
"Zodiac" is a very interesting and well acted movie. The plot unfolds just like a case-file would... showing us all the major players involved in the Zodiac investigation, the times, dates, places of the events, etc. However, this movie suffered from its own length, being 2 hours 36 minutes long. Watching a movie for that long, just to discover that there's no real end (i.e. the case was never solved) is pretty rough. That should NOT be considered a spoiler because anyone who's familiar with the Zodiac case or the book would already know that. Anyhow, "Zodiac" is quite well done. The depth and breadth of the Zodiac's case-file is massive, being perhaps one the most complex and convoluted case-files ever. The director (David Fincher) did an excellent job of conveying just how hard this puzzle was to solve and how when they found their prime suspect, they couldn't do anything to him legally. The Zodiac was too smart for the investigators and consequently, they were never able to pin the evidence on him.
All in all, I'd give this movie 4 STARS (out of 5). Re-watch value: MEDIUM
Brett's Review
*Review Forthcoming* – Let's just say that "Life Happens" and leave it at that. If Brett cares to elaborate on that later, he can. Anyhow, his review is delayed at the moment.
