Zodiac

(Movie Review)

This movie was recommended to me by a couple different people, so I thought I would check it out.

I didn't know anything about it before I popped it in the old DVD player (like a lot of movies that come out while I'm in Japan, I sometimes miss out on all the release publicity), but it turns out that this movie is based on a true story about the Zodiac killer (W), who terrorized California in the late 1960s.

Now, despite being a bit of a 60s nut, I never heard of the Zodiac killer before I put on this movie. (I guess true crime stories were never really my interest). But, as portrayed in this movie, he apparently made quite an impression on the citizens of California at the time. And I learned a great deal by watching this movie.

This movie is incredibly historically accurate. Surprisingly so for a Hollywood movie. (And if you watch some of the DVD extras, you learn how much effort they went through to get everything as accurate as possible.)

In fact, so far does this movie go in pursuit of accuracy that they break some of the principle rules of plotting and screenwriting. In any other movie you would expect maybe composite characters, a streamlined story, and a climatic conclusion. You get none of that in this movie.
In fact, for most of the movie, it's hard to tell who the main character is. Robert Downey Jr. hogs the screen as Paul Avery for the first half of the film, but then his character drops off the map for the second half. Jake Gyllenhal's character is in the background for most of the movie, until he becomes the main character near the end. The police officer David Toschi (W) dominates the middle of the film, but then fades away to become a supporting character.

You've got to admire the courage of the film-makers to go for accuracy over entertainment. And you would think that this would be the kind of film that a history geek like myself would go nuts over. But to be perfectly honest, it tested my attention span.

I think the problem was, when it came down to it, I just didn't care that much about the Zodiac killer. If this kind of meticulous accuracy had been applied to a subject I was more passionate about (like any of the people on my wish-list for biopics, for example) I would have loved it. It's a pity we get so many biopics about serial killers, and so few movies about civil rights or labor leaders. Oh well.

The first half of the film, when the killer is active, is really interesting. The film shows the killer attacking his victims, and there are a lot of really suspenseful scenes mixed in with the investigation. And Robert Downey Jr. really chews up the screen as the hard-drinking, smart mouthed, investigative reporter Paul Avery (W).

As a former Star Trek fan, I also enjoyed small Star Trek connection in here. It turns out that Melvin Belli (W), famous defense lawyer who went on live TV to answer a phone call from the Zodiac killer, also guest starred in a Star Trek episode, and the film-makers were nice enough to throw in a couple lines of dialogue highlighting this connection.

Where the film drags on is the continuing investigation long after the Zodiac murders have stopped. This second half of the film is where I started to get restless in my seat, especially as this film goes on for 2 hours and 40 minutes.
And (spoiler) since they never conclusively find their man, it means that there's never a very satisfying end to this movie, even if it is an accurate ending.

Still, before I put in this movie, I had no idea who the Zodiac killer was. Now I know all about him. And for at least half of the movie I felt like I was entertained while I was learning. Can't complain about that.

Link of the Day
The Torture Memos
and Where is Obama's solidarity with the freedom-loving peoples of Iran?

Zodiac: Movie Review (Scripted)