Zodiac

2007
Directed by: David Fincher

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

California, late 1960s - a serial killer strikes a young man and woman parked near a lake. He kills her and seriously injures him. Weeks later a young couple is stabbed to death near a resevoir. Later a San Fransisco newspaper gets a letter. In it is detailed the killings and specific information that only the police would know. The writer identifies himself as the killer and gives himself the name of Zodiac. He says he will commit more murders unless they print his letters. They do so but Zodiac kills anyway, or at least says he does.
Zodiac has a knack for staying a step ahead of the police and the detective, his partner and the staff at the newspaper rack their brains trying to piece together the murderer. They make an appeal for any information leading up the arrest of the Zodiac and they get hundreds of leads. One though is quite interesting. It leads them to a man who fit’s the bill almost perfectly. He mentions things in the letters and on top of that carries a Zodiac watch. It however all “circumstantial” evidence. There just isn’t enough linking him to the crime scenes. The only thing nuttier than this guy is his squirrel-infested trailer. They find guns but they are all the wrong types for the crimes.
When Robert Downy Jr ‘s character (Paul Avery) has a breakdown because he is targeted by Zodiac, and the detectives pretty much give up on the case because the killer hasn‘t been caught, Robert Greysmith takes it into his own hands to catch the Zodiac. Will the killer be caught and brought to justice? Or is Zodiac, like some people believe just taking credit for crimes he didn’t commit? As with any good who-done-it I make it a habit of not spoiling the ending. What good is watching or reading a mystery if in your mind the crime is already solved?
Jake Gyllenhaal’s character is genuine enough and you’ve got to give his character credit for sticking with it even thought the killer ominously calls him on the telephone. Robert Downy Jr, is excellent as the journalist who gets a little too involved with his subject.
From what I’ve read, most of the night scenes in this movie (and there are quite a few) where shot on green screens and the backgrounds made to look like 1970’s San Fransisco. If this is the case they certainly did a good job as I couldn’t tell the point where the set ended and the green screen began. As you may recall 300 did this same thing except I think Zodiac would be much harder as they are dealing with intricate city streets and not a featureless background. The story is based on true events as the cartoonist and make character went on to write a real-life best selling novel on the murders. The movie itself does a good job of telling the story from graphic killings - to portraying the various forms of obsession that inhabit the main characters in their effort to solve the case.
2 ½ stars