Review of Zodiac (2007) by Dhruv Krishna G — 10 Oct 2015

Zodiac is a rare movie that manages to hold your attention throughout its entire runtime and makes you want to go and research about its story even more after it has finished. The movie is masterfully directed, written, edited, and acted - making it one of the best thrillers I have ever watched.

The plot of the movie revolves around the investigation of the infamous Zodiac killer in the 1960s in the San Francisco area and how a cartoonist, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), a homicide detective, David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and a news reporter, Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), aim to crack his identity but see their personal lives greatly affected by their involvement in the case.

The main reason why I absolutely love this movie is because it is able to draw me in completely into its story. 'David Fincher' is one of my favorite directors and I really feel that this is one of his best-directed movies. 'David Fincher' and cinematographer 'Harris Savides', portray the 1960-1970 era terrifically. The costumes, the sets and era transport you straight to the 1960s-1970s and make the movie visually appealing. Moreover, 'Fincher' induces a suspenseful and tense atmosphere to almost every scene in the movie, especially the scenes when the 'Zodiac' killer is shown. This kept me intrigued throughout the whole movie and like the characters in the movie; I kept trying to crack the case myself. The thing that pleasantly surprised me the most, however, was, how well the humor in this movie was handled. The dialogues written by 'James Vanderbilt' were really funny and 'Fincher' used humor really well to keep me engaged in the portions of the movie when the characters are not doing much but talking. The interrogation scenes or the scenes in the 'Tribune' office become memorable because of this humor.

The other thing this movie, surprisingly, nails really well is its handling of its characters and its pace. Since the movie has a wide array of characters and spans over a pretty big era, this movie could have really become messy and overlong, but it is so well edited by 'Angus Wall' that I really could not think of looking away for a moment. Each moment in the movie is engaging, whether it is the characters talking or any action-taking place. Also, 'Fincher' does an outstanding job of handling all his characters well, especially, his 3 main characters, all of who manage to make a lasting impression. None of the supporting characters come off as unnecessary (most of them are intriguing) and add a significant amount of detail to a story that is riveting to say the least.

Finally, the acting in this movie is also all-round terrific. A massive amount of credit has to go to the writing of these characters but in the end, it is the actors who really bring these characters to life. The supporting cast does an extremely good job in the movie. Particularly, 'Brain Cox', 'Anthony Edwards' and 'John Carroll Lynch' make big impressions. 'Anthony Edwards' and 'Mark Ruffalo' share some truly funny moments and complement each other really well in the scenes of investigations. 'John Carroll Lynch' has a few scenes in the movie but really manages to impress with a complex performance. The major cast is similarly exceptionally impressive in this movie. 'Downey Jr.' is at his cocky best as 'Paul Avery' and though he does not have as much screen time as 'Gyllenhaal' and 'Ruffalo', he really shines in his scenes and shares some truly hilarious moments with 'Gyllenhaal's' character. 'Mark Ruffalo' is also terrific as 'David Toschi'. He gets some the best lines in the movie and he delivers them with aplomb and manages to also really impress in his more serious scenes. My favorite character in the movie, however, was 'Jake Gyllenhaal's' character because I felt I really saw the case like he did. I felt that 'Gyllenhaal's' character was extremely difficult to make convincing and 'Gyllenhaal' did terrifically to make this characters motives and incentives seem believable. He infuses his character with tremendous likeability and that makes it hard to not root for him in the movie.

Overall, I see Zodiac, as a hidden masterpiece that stays with you long after it has finished and manages to constantly engage you with its tremendous characters and brilliant dialogue. A movie that manages to really define what a serial killer thriller should be like -- Zodiac is one of my all time favorite thrillers, probably just below my all time favorite thriller - Se7en.