Zodiac

Zodiac is a film that came out a couple of year ago that I missed while it was in theaters. I regret that. It is an excellent film in my opinion, but I'm having trouble convincing my friends of that. Normally I would just attribute that to poor taste, and move on, but when I asked my one friend why he disliked the movie, he gave me two reasons. The first is that he thought the film was boring, and not much happens. I think this stems from its two and half hour running length and significant lack of murders for a serial killer movie. Of course its not really a serial killer movie, its a true crime movie, and a gripping fascinating one at that. The second reason he gave was the films unsatisfying ending. Before I continue to discuss the ending, I need to go divulge a small spoiler, that's not really a spoiler so feel free to keep reading. They never catch the Zodiac Killer. The case remains unsolved. Now seeing as how this is a very famous case that quite literally played out in the newspapers, David Fincher expects you to know this coming in. Except if you weren't around in the late 60's there's a good chance you might not know this, and this could sully your experience with the film. And ultimately that's why I think this excellent movie bombed with audiences. People were coming in with misinformed expectations and when the movie didn't deliver the experience they paid for, they felt unsatisfied. For this we can blame the trailer.

The trailer sells this movie as Hollywood thriller. It's not. Fear is one of the many emotions and themes this film addresses but it doesn't do it in the typical Hollywood fashion, by putting our hero in overtly dangerous situations. It's more subtle than that, and in the end more effective. Expect this movie to stay with you. Isn't a serial Killer that doesn't get caught a lot scarier than that does? Don't confuse subtle with boring.

Now about the ending. The typical Hollywood ending has the good guy catch the bad guy. It comes with very visceral, satisfying feeling. Hollywood knows this. That's why at the end of Dirty Harry, which is also loosely based on the Zodiac Killer, Harry kills Scorpio, the stand in for Zodiac. That's all great, and makes for a fun movie, but its Hollywood escapism. The hero gets the girl, and good triumphs over evil. It's just not what Zodiac is. It's a film that tries to be more honest, and it tackles complex and sometimes unpleasant emotions. It provides you with a puzzle that still missing a few pieces. We have most of the picture, but not all of it. That's incredibly frustrating, not only for us but for the main character. And since the frustration of obsession is a major theme in this movie, the ending seemed appropriate to me, and very effective. And honest. Sometimes we sink a lot of hours into something we feel is important, only for it to never really pan out. That's a tough and risky theme to try to capture in a movie, but I think Zodiac pulls it off.

And imagine how the filmmakers must feel after sinking countless man hours into this production, using an incredible amount of attention to detail in recreating the look and feel of Zodiac era Northern California, only to have the film bomb at the box office, because the movie was marketed poorly. Must suck.