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ZODIAC

I’ve seen all of David Fincher’s movies, and Zodiac is definitely the least Fincheresque of all.

Zodiac tells the story of the infamous California Zodiac killings, that started in the late Sixties, and basically went unsolved. Kind of. Shhh.
It’s based on the nonfiction book by Robert Graysmith, who is the main character in the film, and is played well by Jake Gyllenhaal.

I basically saw this movie because it’s David Fincher, and he’s a very cool director. Zodiac however, is a very straightforward film, with no real “coolness” to it.
That’s not to say it’s a bad movie. It’s very well made and quite exhaustive. The movie doesn’t really focus in the murderer and show all his crimes in horror film glory, but instead focuses mostly on the policemen and reporters who obsessed on the case for so long with no true sense of satisfactory results.

Aside from Graysmith, who truly obsessed over the case, we also meet crime reporter Paul Avery, as portrayed by Robert Downey Jr. Downey is really, really great in this movie. His take on Avery is very cool. I have no idea how the real Avery looked or acted, but Downey makes him a very interesting, but maybe not the nicest, guy.

Mark Ruffalo plays police inspector David Toschi, and he’s very good too. His partner is played by Anthony Edwards, who’s probably best known from TV’s ER, and he is really great. I always knew he was a good actor, but I was surprised by his performance here. Good stuff.

Elias Koteas also plays a cop in Zodiac, and as usual, he’s great. I think he should be a bigger name than he is, but who knows, maybe he’s happy as a character actor. Whatever the case, I’ve never seen him turn in a bad performance.

The true story of the Zodiac killings is really crazy and as far as I can tell, the movie does a good job of chronicling it. But be warned, like I said before, this isn’t a thriller.
Zodiac is really a crime drama, plain and simple. A police procedural, and at more than two and a half hours long, there’s a lot o procedures covered!
But if your willing to put substance over style, it’s definitely worth seeing.

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