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In 1969, a serial killer began terrorizing San Francisco. The killer, who called himself Zodiac, taunted the local police by calling in to report his kills. He sent letters to local papers, threatening to kill more if they didn’t publish ciphers and letters. He made terrible threats about bombings and school bus killings, terrifying the police as well as the people who watched the story play out on the nightly news.
Inspectors William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) and David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) handle the case, following clues that seem to lead them nowhere. Meanwhile, at one San Francisco paper, eccentric reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) covers the story—but editorial cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) becomes obsessed with it. Graysmith spends his time at the library, studying books on ciphers. He even goes so far as to dig through Avery’s trash for more information.
As the years pass, and as the Zodiac comes and goes, in and out of the spotlight, the case goes unsolved. Graysmith’s obsession with the case becomes all-encompassing—and it compels him to write a book about it. While doing his research, he digs up old files and uncovers old clues that may just help him lead the police to the killer.
Based on actual events, as published in the book by Robert Graysmith, Zodiac covers more than twenty years of case files. Throughout a grueling two hours and forty minutes, the film goes through highs and lows. In the beginning, the suspense builds quickly, as the Zodiac begins his killing spree and as the characters are introduced. But then the hunt begins. The letters come in, and the police interview witnesses and suspects—and while the case doesn’t really go anywhere, neither does the movie. It plays out less like a crime thriller and more like a documentary—and not an especially thrilling one, either. Instead of building more suspense, the film’s focus shifts to the fact-finding. And characters that had been a major part of the beginning of the movie just quietly go away.
As the film makes its way toward its conclusion, the suspense does pick up somewhat—but most viewers will most likely lose interest long before. There are plenty of facts and details to piece together, but some of the most interesting characters (like Avery) have unceremoniously disappeared. And no one really knows why, exactly, Graysmith has become so obsessed—not even Graysmith himself.
If the movie had ended with some sort of a bang—something surprising, thrilling, or controversial to make audiences chatter excitedly as they leave the theater—it might have made it all worthwhile. But even the end just fizzles out.
If you’re making a movie based on a true story, there’s just so much you can do with the facts you’re given. But if director David Fincher had trimmed down a few of the less interesting facts and focused on a few of the more fascinating ones—and then cut the movie by at least 40 minutes—Zodiac might not have left me feeling like a victim of a brutal crime.
