It is 1969, and the San Francisco Chronicle receives letters from a serial killer who calls himself ‘Zodiac’. A Reporter, Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), covers the case whilst homicide cops David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) investigate it. As the years pass, only Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) continues to search for the identity of the killer.The film opens with a violent killing, followed by others soon after. However, this film is not a serial killer movie and is not as gruesome as David Fincher’s earlier outing, Se7en (1995). The film is, at its most fundamental, a police procedural and, for sometime, it appears to be a standard ‘whodunit’ – albeit a very well made one. We think Graysmith will solve the murders – but he doesn’t. There are times when you would be forgiven for thinking that Kevin Spacey will turn out to be the murderer during a twist-laden last 20 minutes – but he doesn’t. This is not the point of the film (as anyone who knows about the true story the film is based on will be aware) and Zodiac’s killings infact act as a Hitchcockian MacGuffin. Indeed, part of what makes the film so good is the way it avoids chases, shootouts and twists, and instead follows the detailed, methodical and sometimes mundane nature of the investigation.
It is during the last hour when the film really shines as a gripping character study into the mind of an obsessed man. Years after the Zodiac killings have ceased, Robert Graysmith’s obsession with finding the identity of Zodiac remains. This eventually drives his wife (Chloe Sevigny) and children to move out. Graysmith appears thinner and we start to share his paranoia, especially during an extremely effective scene in which he takes a trip down to a basement. Fincher supplies us with times and dates at the bottom of the screen as the plot jumps forward days, months and years, underlining how the case seems to go on forever and showing us the magnitude and futility of Graysmith’s obsession. Occasionally, however, these jumps in time and the ageing of the characters are not wholly convincing.
Overall, the film is a compelling police procedural and a dramatic tragedy about men whose lives were altered and consumed by the Zodiac killings as they searched for an answer that could not be confirmed. The performances are good and David Fincher, stylish as always, directs the film well. The film requires some patience on behalf of the viewer as it meanders along in the first 90 minutes, but I think it stands out as one of 2007’s best offerings.
