'Zodiac' - The Greatest True Crime Thriller

Director David Fincher ('Fight Club,' 'Se7ven,' 'Social Network') sought to create 'Zodiac': the most accurate, ambitious crime thriller of its time. Coming out in 2007, 'Zodiac' helped to not only reinvigorate the true crime genre but simultaneously break into the new age of digital filmmaking. Fincher brilliantly uses smooth pans, meticulously lit medium shots, and punchy editing that all benefit from the digital style which, establishes the film as a breakthrough in cinematography and film.

'Zodiac' recounts the terrifyingly deep history of the Zodiac investigation. This film defies genre; it defies traditional plot structure; it defies everything you have ever learned about character arcs or development; mixing opposing genres, something a documentary on the subject could never do. The film gave us believable character interactions that shine a light on our behavior in ways a drama could not. To put it simply, 'Zodiac,' is an exploration of the darkest aspects of humanity with the scariest and most impending threat slowly fading away into myth.

The film follows the perspective of three central characters: a curious newspaper cartoonist named Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), a dissolute journalist named Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.), and two San Francisco police detectives, Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and his partner Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards); pursuing leads and hitting dead end after dead end as the case takes its toll on their personal and professional lives, with the Zodiac continually falling out of reach.

Fincher takes his time by dividing the movie into two distinct sections: one before a time jump and the other after it. Before the jump, the Zodiac case is just beginning to build; the infamous Zodiac code is released publicly alongside growing threats and bodies with it. Toschi and Armstrong are assigned to the Zodiac case, desperately trying to compile circumstantial evidence into usable evidence in a court of law. After the jump, 7 years later, the story shifts focus to Robert Graysmith and his obsessive, compulsive efforts to solve the Zodiac's identity. During the investigative drought, every police force involved with the investigation has moved on, including Toschi, which compels Graysmith to nail the coffin himself.

Since the actual Zodiac case is still unsolved, Fincher's movie designs itself so that the killer's identity is unclear. He holds a bias against the lead suspect, Arthur Leigh Allen, but Fincher clarifies that he is not the only prime suspect. In the reenactment of the Zodiac murders, the actor, and voice actor, playing the Zodiac killer is different each time. The Zodiac's unknown identity is why the story is compelling, which shows a deep knowledge of how to handle the story. The anonymity of the Zodiac is one of many examples of Fincher's authenticity. 'Zodiac' avoids chases, shootouts, grandstanding, and false climaxes; focusing on the methodical progress of police work. During Graysmith's investigation, there is a lot of unease and fear for his safety because of how real it feels. The audience doesn't know where the Zodiac is or if he knows where Graysmith is. There is always an ominous presence that follows Graysmith's portion of the film, which symbolizes the looming threat of getting too close to an answer. In the hands of a director that isn't comfortable with the source material, this last portion of the film would feel slow or inorganic.

Also, the investigation with Toschi and Armstrong is another part of the story that succeeds from the authentic approach. Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards play off-of each other incredibly creating a believable cop dynamic that feels real but not cliché. The segments when they interact with Arthur Leigh Allen are tense and off-putting. As the audience, you feel like you're apart of the investigation, which becomes heartbreaking for the detectives and the audience when every strong lead turns to nothing. The case is so close and always so far away. The foregoing statement is what 'Zodiac' is built off of. Being close and far is what drives every character in the story and therefore the audience. Everything relating to Zodiac is circumstantial and although we may have an idea of who he may be, we will never truly know.

The reason I believe 'Zodiac' to be the greatest true-crime thriller is that it is never-ending. The story is just clear enough to have an idea but too ambiguous to be definite. The performances, the cinematography, the authenticity all come to a head in the form of an astounding film. Fincher understands that true crime is not the same genre as crime action and that well-crafted stories can be over ambitious and still succeed. Let me know what you think of 'Zodiac' in the comments below!