"Zodiac" (Warner Brothers)
Murder Most Dull
It is hard to believe Hollywood could make a movie about one of the most infamous serial killers in history and make it boring. But they have. “Zodiac” is based on the true story of a man in California in the twentieth century who went on a killing spree and was never caught and convicted. That last statement should have been a clue to the moviemakers that maybe this whole thing wouldn’t work. Who wants to sit through an almost three hour movie and still not have the murderer convicted
Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist working at a newspaper in California. He is on duty when the first “message” from the killer comes in to his publisher. The writer assigned to the story is Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.), a man struggling with his own demons of alcohol and drugs.
Graysmith becomes fascinated with the killer and his story, so much so that when the police and reporters can’t make a dent in the case he starts his own investigation. He relies on Avery and the detective in charge of the investigation, David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo). He hounds them until they share information with him.
Nothing about this movie works. Gyllenhaal plays Graysmith as a complete loser. Maybe that is actually the way he was, but this hardly makes for an invigorating or interesting leading man for the story. Graysmith seems to be barely aware of who he is and where he is, much less being an investigator.
Ruffalo is almost as bad as Toschi. The man’s personality is like fingernails scraping on a blackboard. He may have information about the murderer but you don’t want to hear it because you don’t want to have to watch him.
Then for the female lead they have chosen Chloe Sevigny. She looks lifeless and acts that way too. When you put her and Gyllenhaal on screen together you have the “dull couple of the year” come to life.
The movie is rated R for profanity and violence.
They story of the killings and the hunt for the murderer cover almost thirty years, and the movie seems that long. It is actually close to three hours of entertainment and I use that term loosely. And in all that time next to nothing happens.
Gyllenhaal, Downey, Ruffalo, Sevigny as well as Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox and Dermot Mulroney are all good actors but they are saddled with dull, lifeless characters who never seem to generate the least bit of energy or attention to the goings on. This is a movie that starts out with a killing and goes downhill from that point. Three hours later the film is still trying to find something to get the audience excited about before it ends.
I scored “Zodiac” an unsolved 4 out of 10.
