Zodiac is long, slow, but worth every minute

Zodiac is a suspenseful thriller by director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club). The film is based on true-crime novelist Robert Graysmith’s two Zodiac books, which provide a detailed account of serial killings that began in San Francisco in the late 1960s. As the film opens, Jake Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko, The Day After Tomorrow), is the young Robert Graysmith, then an editorial cartoonist working for the San Francisco Chronicle. When the murders begin, Graysmith becomes deeply obsessed with discovering the killer’s identity.

This movie was in the works for a long time, and many people held high hopes for it. The end result is a great thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat. However, if you were expecting the movie to be as intense and suspenseful as Se7en, then you will be disappointed.

The pacing in Zodiac is very slow. It takes forever for things to begin moving. If you’re hoping for something unexpected every twenty minutes and cars exploding every five minutes, this film is not for you. The beginning is the most intense part of the movie. Much of the rest is focused on details of the investigation. This leads to the movie hurling fact after fact after fact about the Zodiac. It can be a little overwhelming, especially if you know very little about the Zodiac himself. When viewers get overwhelmed, they tend to lose interest in the film.

Several characters lack depth. Ironically, the Zodiac is a rather bland man who rarely appears on screen. It’s very hard to empathize with characters when their development is boring or non-existent. However, there is an exception.

Robert Downey Jr. (A Scanner Darkly) does an outstanding job playing alcoholic reporter Paul Avery. He paints his character so vividly that his fellow actors look terrible by comparison.

Nevertheless, there are many things that this movie gets right. The story is great, and the fact that it is based on true events makes it very interesting.

Overall, this thriller provides a clear picture of what the citizens of San Francisco must have felt during the time of the Zodiac murders.

Photo courtesy of Paramount