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Zodiac: A serial killer in the San Francisco Bay Area taunts police with his letters and cryptic messages. We follow the investigators and reporters in this lightly fictionalized account of the true 1970’s case as they search for the murderer, becoming obsessed with the case. Based on Robert Graysmith’s book, the movie’s focus is the lives and careers of the detectives and newspaper people. (from imdb)

Weeks ago when I saw that David Fincher was coming out with a new movie I got very excited. He is one of my favourite directors and has done such films as Seven, Fight Club and Panic Room. All very good and different movies with Fincher being what connects them. He does tension well and always adds a lot of “creepy” to a situation.

So when I saw the trailer for Zodiac I was intrigued on how he would do a real life story that of course to this day does not have an ending. It is all about the Zodiac killer who has never been caught with  the case still open.

The characters, the look and even the music all fit the time period except Jake G’s character I think. He looked too much like himself and never changed over the 20 odd years the movie takes place. There was not a lot of violence, not as much as I expected anyways and instead of focusing on the killings, Fincher followed the trail of evidence a lot more. I have read that movie was a 2 1/2 hour Law & Order and I can see why they say that but I think it was a lot better than that. Every time they were leading you towards someone being the killer, it went another way and it even had me thinking some of the main chararcters would end up being the Zodiac killer.

“Zodiac” overall is a really good movie. It starts out with some creepy scenes, then gets into the actual case. Throughout the film, there are good dashes of humor and horror, though the main focus is always on the case. Since the facts presented in “Zodiac” are almost 100% accurate to the actual Zodiac events, the movie might sound like a documentary. However, good acting and film techniques turn it into a suspenseful crime drama that keeps you on the edge of your seat, even if you know what is going to happen. The humor interspersed throughout the film works really well, because at points you’re laughing out loud one minute, then the next minute you’re gasping in shock at some new development.

The only complaint I can see people having was that it was really long, and that’s true - it’s about 2 hours and 50 minutes. However, if you’re interested in suspense/crime/horror films, I highly recommend “Zodiac.” To put it in easy terms, it is like a really good episode of CSI that does not have David Caruso in it.

The soundtrack was awesome and I will have the song Hurdy Gurdy Man stuck in my head for days.

I had heard of the story before but never really knew a lot about it. This film has given me a better idea and I think I am going to check out the book it was based on.

Even though there were classic Fincher tells (lots of rain, dim lighting and pans of city scapes)  he never went where he went with Seven. This story had all the makings to go to that place of absolute creepfest but I think it would of been hard to watch knowing it was a very true story. So sticking to the case and the story without the gore I think worked better.

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