# Zodiac - A Good and Creepy Tale



## Otto (May 18, 2006)

We watched "Zodiac" the other night. Good movie. I personally like the Zodiac story for its creepiness, realness and unsolvedness. It's just a weird story about a weird guy. And that makes it interesting.

The movie opens by noting that it's based on police notes from the era. It has that period feel of "All the President's Men", and I was drawn into it as being somewhat accurate in its depiction of the story.

I read elsewhere where this movie was considered slow-moving. I didn't think so (even though I watched it in two parts because I fell asleep). I thought pacing was good, storytelling was good, and suspense was good. It's not an action-packed Jackie Chan movie, but it's not "Beaches" either (OK, OK, in all fairness, I'm not even sure I ever watched "Beaches," but I'm pretty sure it's slower than this movie).

Acting was very good with nice-kid and Tobey Maguire look-alike Jake Gyllenhall, flexible Robert Downey Jr., and oddball John Carroll Lynch, among others. 

The movie follows the trails of a writer and a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle as they document the activities of the Zodiac. Ultimately, they both end up extremely involved in the investigation until their lives are consumed (destroyed?) by it. Of course, we also follow the cops through their search for the killer. In the end, the Zodiac's identity is never determined, which makes it just that much more interesting.

There were definitely a couple quick, yet disturbing, moments depicting some of the Zodiac's actions. If you really don't like that kind of thing, avert your eyes if you can. The movie _is_ based on the tale of a murderer, so some of that's to be expected. Fortunately, it doesn't override the rest of the film, and definitely keeps it watchable for most people. Those scenes are definitely not for kids, though.

Audio and video were fine on DVD -- I don't recall anything outstanding either good or bad.

All-in-all, a very good movie. 4.5 out of 5.


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