By Katherine Doublet
Every so often, a movie that is a remake of several other remakes opens in theatres in hopes that it will triumph over its influences. A few famous names are signed prior to production but in the end, we’re left with one giant disappointment.
The most recent tale about the shameless serial killer of the late ’60s and early ’70s, Zodiac follows in that heartbreaking tradition.
The film was inspired by and titled after Robert Greysmith’s book Zodiac, which detailed the sickening murders committed by the elusive killer in the San Francisco region and the excrutiatingly uninformative investigation that followed.
The fi lm focuses on Robert Greysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), a cartoonist for The San Francisco Chronicle during the time of the attacks. As the body count rises and intensity of the mystery escalates, Greysmith takes on what becomes, an obsessive interest in the coded letters sent to the newspaper – along with two other publications – from the serial killer who called himself simply “the Zodiac.” Respected investigative journalist Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) works alongside the cartoonist-turned-investigator and together, they attempt to unfold the Zodiac’s possible motives.
Their theories eventually blend with those of Inspectors David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards), in an effort to solve an increasingly frustrating case that spanned over 10 years. Just as in real life, the killer is never caught, leaving the investigators dead-ended with more questions than answers.
David Fincher, the director who blessed the film world with his thrilling blockbusters Se7en and Fight Club, returns to a similar crime scene, but without the magnetic fl air he’s exhibited before. While Downey Jr. and Ruffalo are outstanding in their roles, Fincher does little to flourish Gyllenhaal’s character.
Instead of taking the chance to soften what stands as a brutal movie by expanding on how Greysmith feels about his love interest, Melenie (Chloà Sevigny), he chooses to drag out and revert back to previous scenes.
Whether it was Gyllen haal’s potential that was cut short because of Fincher, or Fincher because of Gyllenhaal, one could defi nitely take note of the fact that someone’s ability to better this movie was held back. In the end, the audience may be taken back in time with this authentic drama, but it’s a trip not worth the time or money.
GRADE: B+
