Zodiac

Based on the unsolved murders in Northern California in the 1960's. The film's atmosphere of the changes from joyful to bleak and busy to inactive. The film uses suspense and only suspense to move the viewer through the 21/2 hr film. The suspense is created by the viewer wanting to know what evidence they have found. Who there suspect and other things.

The film focuses more on the mass hysteria created from the murders and the complications for the police. The complications for the police was mainly because of the range of distances of the murders. This meant there were several police departments involved. So one for the problems was the different police departments talking together and supplying evidence. For instance it took the san Franciso department ages to information about other killings the zodiac did. In fact the detectives had to go directly to the other department to get the information and corporation they needed.

In fact the Zodiac killings were not the whole problem that the police had deal with. As the Zodiac was a real serial killer. As he increases in fame and in kills copy cat will follow. So the detectives had problems of indentifying which victims were the Zodiacs. So the detectives reacted harshly against Graysmith when he said he could help them. As the had every loony, sleuth wannabe and criminal wannabe offering information about the Zodiac.

From my research of the criminal files of Zodiac the film is true to the investigation. David Fincher really researched this film thoroughly. However David Finch research and focus is not what creates the suspense. It is the acting.

The acting is great. Robert Downey jr is good as Paul Avery the San Francisco crime reporter. His change from the talented cocky writer to depressed alcoholic is excellent. You could almost smell the seediness. Jake Glyenhaal is good as Graysmith going from nerd cartoonist to obsessive sleuth wannabe. The detectives Mark Ruffalo as Dave Toschi and Anthony Edwards and William Armstrong are good as the two detectives who investigate theses murders.

All the characters mentioned ther were obessed with Zodiac. Apart from the mass hysteria and media hype the film also focuses on the three main charcters Robert Graysmith, Bill armstrong and Pual avery. Paul avery I have already discussed about how the zodiac killings messed his life. At the start of the film Paul avery was the star reporter cocky and and a heavy drinker. The Zodiac tipped him over the edge. Every time there was a new killing Paul avery always scapered over to the crime scene to question the cops and the passers by to get the newest dirt. This meant that he drank more and that made him more cocky. So cocky that question the Zodiac and wirte a rude and scathing report. The zodiac supposedly scares him out of his wits and puts him into a depression.

Robert Graysmith as I said before is a nerdy cartoonist and a wannabe slueth. So Graysmith got on the Zodiac because of the messages and codes he sent. This got him hooked on the Zodiac and turned this slightly nerdy kid into a shadowy figure. His attempts to call the detectives shocked them as the detective realise they are talking to a cartoonist. The Zodiac not only changes Robert Graysmith presence but also messes up his life as well as his marriage. He spent most of his life shifting through libraries of newspapers and talking to various people. One scene that shows his obesssion more clearly. Is when he is in his own flat with his children who are helping him organising his work. So that he can study the zodiac more. In fact by the end of the movie he has written the book about him that the film is based on.

The detective Dave Toschi obviously got obssessed by Zodiac by his murders. In fact he spent ages going through all the murders with his partner. He even tried coordinate and triangulate murders around the precincts the murders across. This caused a lot of problems because of the bureaucracy and blue tape he had to tape through. In fact Zodiac was able to kill more victims because of the incorporation of the different police precincts. This investigation into the Zodiac and his victims is what killed Dave Toschi careers and retired his partner. He became tired, old and obessed at the same time. The reason I think is because he was just on the same case for years and was not getting anywhere. This is why he started arresting who ever he could find who did not have an allibi for any of the murders.

Overall the Zodiac is a cop and robber film with no finish. The film starts of well with a particularly frightening murder bring in the main characters and explains them. It carries on brilliantly creating and continuing the tension bringing new evidence in and having the detectives, reporter and cartoonist look at it and discover new evidence and motive. This is what is supposed to happen in the middle of the film. However the films conclusion does not end with the capture of the zodiac it just ends with the writing of the book. It seems or trys to end with the destruction and change of the main characaters. But the film never focused enough on them for us too care. The explaining of how each of the main characters were effected by the Zodiac. Was just I way of showing how the Zodiac murders changed San Francisco and every one in it.