Review of Zodiac (2007) by Brendan C — 28 Jan 2013

Zodiac is a great movie about one of the most famous unsolved murder cases of all time. It tells the story of the Zodiac killer, and about how one man who is a cartoonist tries to solve the case. Jake Gylenhall plays Robert Graysmith, the man trying to solve the case. He becomes obsessed with the case, after a couple of years go by, without the Zodiac writing. He becomes obsessed with the Zodiac codes, and he keeps calling Mark Ruffalo in the middle of the night to talk about the case. At first I didn't like Jake Gylenhaall, but towards the end I started to like him more. I thought that he played a role at first that was more suited for somebody like Edward Norton. But then he got more intense, and I started to like him more. However I would have chosen a different actor though. I feel like somebody like Daniel Craig would be good, because he is more intense. Richard Gere would be a really good fit for that role too. I am not saying that Gylenhall was bad, but he wasn't great. You would need a more intense actor to do that role.

For those who don't know anything about the Zodiac killer, he was a serial killer that operated in San Francisco in the 60's, 70's. He has claimed to have killed 37 people, but only five of his victims have been discovered. He would write letters to the newspapers taunting the police, and would have coded messages in them. He used the Zodiac code, and that is why he called himself Zodiac. He was absolutely insane. He stopped writing in the 80's, and in his last letter he said that he has killed 37 people. We still don't know for sure who he is. The man that they thought was Zodiac, they were going to interrogate him, but he died of a fatal heart attack before the meeting. The case is open to anybody who wants to buy it.

This film was very creepy. The stuff with Zodiac was really disturbing. There is a scene where he murders two people by a river, and it is so demented. The final scene in the Strangers is what I would compare that scene too. The opening scene was a creepy murder too. Any scene in this film that had the Zodiac in it will creep the hell out of you. There is a scene where he calls the news channel, and starts talking about his headaches, which people who are insane tend to get a lot of. He says that he likes killing, and that when he dies his victims will be his slaves in his afterlife. If I rate to rate that on a level from 1-10 on how sick that is, I would give it an 11.

This movie uses references to other films that connect with the story. Zodiac says he likes to kill people because that is the most dangerous animal to kill. Robert Graysmith eventually connects that to the Most Dangerous Game. Which is a book and movie about a man who hunts other men on his private island. I knew that reference as soon as I heard it actually. I remember reading the Most Dangerous Game in 8th actually. There is also a scene where they watch Dirty Harry in theatres. I think they used that, because the Scorpio killer in that movie is similar to Zodiac. They both write to the press, and to the police, taunting them. But Zodiac kills just for fun and for pure pleasure. Scorpio wants to get some ransom money. The references to other films are very well tied into this movie.

I won't give the ending, but it is a hard one to figure out. I found it hard to figure out, because I kept thinking how are they able to make a good ending to this without catching the killer. Zodiac was never caught, so it would be hard to end the film well. They did however. They just kind of showed how the investigation all ended, and gave some real life facts. Robert Graysmith was also getting several anonymous phone calls in real life, and it said that he never received another one again, after the guy who they were going to interrogate died of a heart attack. So that leads you to believe that they did catch the guy but you never know. This was overall a really good, and fascinating movie.