ScoobyMint
Disappointment for a huge fan!
Afouotos
Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.
Edwin
The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Lechuguilla
The real-life Zodiac killer, who terrorized the California Bay Area in the late 1960s, was never caught. That fact in itself renders the potential for a most compelling story. But if you're going to make a movie about this case, who or what does your movie focus on? You can't focus on the killer himself because you don't know who he is. This might seem like a problem for movie makers. But for a clever film producer the killer's anonymity presents an opportunity."The Zodiac" (2005) focuses on a fictional lead detective, a man named Matt Parish (Justin Chambers), his wife and his young, never smiling, son who fixates on his dad's detective work. The plot thus gets sidetracked onto this fictional family, their home life, and how this unsolvable case affects each of them. And we have lots of filler scenes with archival footage of the era, including the moon landing, Vietnam, Nixon, but precious little about the Zodiac. The film thus comes across as tedious, trite, and largely irrelevant, lacking suspense and tension.Visually the film trends dark with a moody tone, both appropriate for the topic. Casting and acting are acceptable except for the annoying and unnecessary William Mapother. Cinematography and production design are competent. But the music is overly dramatic.My impression is that the film's producers wanted to capitalize on this famous case with the word "Zodiac" in the title. The film could then show how the phantom killer, never seen, always in the background and obscured, could affect the lives of ordinary people in the community. The result is a mostly generic, opportunistic script that could be applied to almost any unsolved serial killer case.
elshikh4
True that the Zodiac's case is bigger, but this one handled it, or rather handled its beginning, well as a small thriller, yet sorrowfully it looked more like the movie of the week (yet with higher directing), or a pilot for a next never-seen mini-series ! And with the lack of some points it looked, at its worst, as a Docu-drama.The movie cared much about the crimes' exact dates so the Zodiac more than caring about the police officer who's after him so his family. It could've been better and deeper if this script gave more concern for the characters. For instance why this officer is so confused and obsessed; is he a work-addict?, feeling a certain threat to his manhood?, just wants to assure his intelligence?,.. to the end of answers for the question that this movie never asked. The character's development was vague since originally the character itself was flat. So when I felt the overacting at one point I blamed the script firstly more than the young cast.Speaking of which the child actor who played the officer's son seemed too eccentric as if he plays an autistic ! This inanimate look and performance weren't for the sake of the character as simply a bright kid who wants to end his fear and also communicate with his father through the only subject he's interested in, though this he-swallowed-too-much-starch kind of status made that kid just a weirdo who looks like someone would turn into a Zodiac himself !, not to mention so many boring scenes for him at his father's office that led eventually to nothing! Remember the scene in which his mom finds the astronomy's papers under his bed; the funny acting and the non-writing managed to deliver a real overdone scene to a laughable extent, like the mom found a homosexual magazines under her teen son's bed or something !? To ask tearful in great agitation : "Do you wanna talk about it ??!!".The consecutive flashy stock footages didn't show but the usual clichés in any movie deals with the late-1960s' America, besides the natural chronicling for the movie's era, they wouldn't even try to generalize something deep out of that to refer to respectable conclusions else hollow common ones such as "this society became madly violent" without pinpointing to reasons or roots or anything.This movie seems to succeed in 2 points; firstly that touch of the political satire near the end when the police is after the black people asking the killer himself about that "Negro" they chase. It's a clever moment that could refer to how the American police was all along after the wrong, or the wronged, people. But as a matter of fact racism wasn't the main reason of how that murder psycho who killed 37 persons during a whole decade got away with it!. Yes, it was some bitter irony that may explain the Zodiac's prosperity at the late 1960s, though in rethinking, it could've been better if that was built correctly as a commentary from the start.The other possible good point of this movie is when it presents the police officer chasing the criminal on his own like a lone ranger, so this one-hero sort of dealing wasn't right, which drove him lastly to fail (it nearly drove him nuts !). I consider that some satire against the cow-boy's style or method. It could be the movie's suggestion to answer the most disgraceful question in the history of the American police : why the Zodiac is never been caught ? At least at this early period.So as a thriller it's another average one, and disappointing as well considering sad end where the mad killer wins !. And as a documentary it's watchable yet still its main problem is that it shows only and not trying seriously to explore. Therefore it's nothing but the movie of the week, which means that you wouldn't need it, nor lose catching anything important in it, if you already read its events before !
lastliberal
At the end of the movie, the killer was wondering who would play him in a movie. I think he is still waiting as this was probably the most boring show I have ever seen about a serial killer.When the script is already written for you, you would think you have time to focus on some other parts of the movie to make it interesting. Not here folks. There was nothing interesting about this movie. I thought there was one part where it was going to get interesting, but I was mistaken.I don't watch "Grey's Anatomy," so I have no idea who Justin Chambers is, but he showed me nothing here. He spent the entire time drinking and yelling. I don't watch "Prison Break," so I know know Robin Tunney either. She spent all her time at the kitchen table whining.There is no one else here that I recognized either. I don't know why I watched this, but I recommend you let me suffer for you and avoid it at all costs.
gradyharp
While ZODIAC is in the theaters and people want a sneak preview of what to expect from that film with Jake Gyllenhaal, this little version called THE ZODIAC is available and has some merit. The search for the still unknown serial killer of the late 1960s in the bay area is a creepy enough story that it is difficult to imagine a telling of it would not make us shiver. This film directed by Alexander Bulkley and written with the director's brother Kelley Bulkeley (sic) keeps a fairly low key and while it does manage to depict some of the slayings, much of this version on the Zodiac killer is focused on the personalities of those desperately seeking the perpetrator.Justin Chambers portrays Inspector Matt Parish who becomes obsessed with the search to the point of excessive drinking and neglecting his family; the manner in which Bulkley depicts him seems more focused on Parish's chain smoking than anything else, an example of using the cigarette as a constant prop when there is no apparent reason for pushing the habit into the public's eye. Parish's frightened wife is ably portrayed by Robin Tunney, and his son who is obsessed with the multiple fascinating aspects of the Zodiac mentality is well handled by Rory Culkin. Some fine actors flesh out the cast - William Mapother, Philip Baker Hall - but they are given little material to use.The production values (night atmosphere especially) are strong for an Indie and the film does convey a creepiness that lingers. If only the writers would have shared some insights into the characters on screen the film would have been far stronger. But for another look at Zodiac, until the real one comes out on DVD, this little film is a good teaser. Grady Harp
