Know the story, like the movie
Zodiac in general
I've been a fan of the Zodiac case ever since it appeared on the Discovery Channel a year ago. Although this event took place almost 40 years ago, I was nonetheless thrilled by the widespread publicity that was created by this maniac killer. The interesting part, no doubt is that this guy had never been caught even though they found a guy named Arthur Leigh who fitted the killer’s profile almost perfectly. He was interrogated a few times but they couldn't match his fingerprints or DNA to connect him to any of the murders that took place, although they found guns and explosives in his home; more coincidentally, he had blood-stained knives in his car and also wears a 'Zodiac' brand watch! Duh! It is quite amazing how he actually got away with the crime and till this day still remained innocent.
I've never expected much action in the movie because in reality, the serial killer didn't really kill many people. It was the widespread media publicity that made things very interesting. This includes the puzzle games (encrypted in 'zodiac' symbols), sort-of-like riddle games, the aiming point target signature/trademark (A crosshair. – BMF) used by the Zodiac to represent himself, and the insults and taunts, challenging the police to catching him. This has made him infamous and his case tracked by many avid crime investigation followers/readers.
Zodiac The Movie
ZODIAC started off very well, which was pretty good! I wouldn't want to go into the details of the movie, but certainly they have coordinated the action scenes very well and added some cool effects to it. The action is not many; I bet many people expect some John Woo gigs but what I can say is you will get none. Most of the action takes place at the beginning till the middle of the movie. After that, the action starts to break. What remained was a very detailed, heavy dialogue plus serious investigation and pretty good acting. Interestingly, they did it so well that it was actually quite suspenseful at some point. I respect this, because a movie doesn't need have great action scenes or overloaded with special effects to be great. And because of this, I think this is a great movie. However, I know that there are many people who will not like this movie because those who doesn't know the story will not be able to enjoy it as those who actually did follow the (real) story before. This, I am quite sure. It's like watching Ali but without having heard of the boxer before.
Excellent movie! Two thumbs up for it! Rating at BigMovieFreak.com - 'BADASS'! - Will2k
Directed by David Fincher (Panic Room, Fight Club) and screenplay by James Vanderbilt (The Rundown, Basic). Stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey, Jr., Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Chloë Sevigny, Elias Koteas, Dermot Mulroney, Philip Baker Hall, Adam Goldberg and Donal Logue. Based on the book by Robert Graysmith. |
