Movie Review: Zodiac
Stars (Out of 10): 7
One Word Summary: Unsatisfying

             A violent killer proves himself to be cunning and strategic when he starts sending cryptic puzzles to California newspapers, calling himself the “Zodiac” killer. Cartoonist Robert Graysmith takes an interest in the case, shadowing reporter Paul Avery. Meanwhile, police find themselves in all-too-frequent jurisdiction battles, as well as having to compete with Avery writing controversial articles and sending unconfirmed reports to television stations. The hunt for this Zodiac killer proves to be devastatingly difficult, and lasts for far longer than anyone could have predicted.

             With a premise surrounding one of the most notorious and unsolved serial killer cases in history, and coming from David Fincher, whose “Se7en” is named by many as the best serial killer movie ever made (some place it second, after “The Silence of the Lambs), greatness is to be expected. Unfortunately, “Zodiac” is an extremely slow, muddled meditation on the cleverness of a killer and the incapability of law enforcement working in concert. Fincher’s style seems incomplete, as the feel of the movie is not quite mysterious or dark enough, and it comes off as simply moody and confused. The film is a ghastly 2 hours and 40 minutes, and stretches on for far too long. It is violent in a way that does not seem completely necessary, and loses its compelling elements as it goes on.

             The performances are merely adequate, and no one stands out as commendable or even worth a mention. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Graysmith exactly as he seems to have been written, making no effort to interpret or expand upon his stage directions, which is a disappointment for someone who showed great range in recent films such as “Jarhead” and “Brokeback Mountain.” Mark Ruffalo, as Inspector David Toschi, still seems to be searching for a defining role which he can truly embody (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” is the closest he has come recently). Robert Downey Jr., typecast as the sleazy reporter Avery, is off on his own planet, doing his own thing, an approach which doesn’t quite work. The one truly enrapturing performance comes in the form of a bit part from The Drew Carey Show’s John Carroll Lynch as a suspect in the Zodiac case. He chillingly delivers one of his lines in one of the film’s few great scenes: “I’m not the Zodiac, and if I was, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.” That scene is characteristic of how the whole film should feel; unfortunately, it fails to achieve that effect.

The Bottom Line is that David Fincher’s “Zodiac” is a major disappointment. While not terrible, there is little that is truly good about it. Less-than-compelling performances and a lack of appropriate resolution makes the 2 hour and 40 minute runtime seem like an eternity.