Zodiac (2007)

Originally Written

Sunday, June 22, 2008

One film more worthy of an Oscar nod than most of 2007's nominees is the crime thriller Zodiac. Based upon the book by Robert Graysmith, who became obsessed with the serial killer known as the Zodiac Killer in the 60's and 70's. Graysmith worked for the San Francisco Chronicle as a cartoonist during the spree of murders and later turned his research and the actual police case files into a book with which the film supposedly accurately the investigation into the murders. Whether or not the film is true to the actual events it still turns out to be a quite suspenseful thriller that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

I've lived in California most of my life and never heard of the Zodiac Killer prior to seeing this film, a majority of these events take place prior to my birth, but even so a lot of the cities that are visited or referred to in the film are very familiar to me making the film extra creepy. To try and summarize Zodiac would be quite difficult, but anyone who is a fan of crime thrillers will definitely find this film worth a look. In a nutshell, Zodiac encompasses the random killings of the Zodiac Killer and focuses on the effect these murders have on certain characters in the film who make it their priority to crack this case.

At a run-time of almost three hours the film is quite lengthy but amazingly I was never bored. While Zodiac does lose some steam in certain areas and would not have suffered any from additional editing, you quickly become enthralled with trying to solve this engrossing case. Even half way through the film when you can predict who the killer is, it does a good job of making you question yourself even though all the facts point to a certain person. Overall, other than the length I have no complaints. Zodiac boasts a huge cast of well known and talented actors, including Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal, who put forth great performances. This is definitely a film that was sorely overlooked at the Oscars and flew under the radar of most of the average movie viewer, but it's definitely worth checking out.

8/10