Awakening the Zodiac

8/28/2017

Despite both lead characters being completely unlikable, _Awakening the Zodiac_ is actually better than I was expecting. Certainly less horror, more investigative thriller, is a serviceable theoretical followup to the real-life Zodiac killings. Could probably have used a little more excitement or a lot more logical action though. _Final rating:★★ - Had some things that appeal to me, but a poor finished product._

10/14/2021

If you watch _Awakening the Zodiac_ in the hope that it will be half as good as David Fincher's _Zodiac_ (2007), you will be disappointed. Some have called _Awakening the Zodiac_ a thriller. It is not. I don't say that because it lacks thrills (which it does), but because it is a very bland horror film. The idea of a couple tracking the Zodiac killer together is pretty good. But, then the first scene begins and the good ideas end. The script is silly, the pace tedious, the leads miscast, the acting a drag. Everything is just wrong. See, Mick and Zoe are a poor white couple who are barely scraping by. (They look like models, so you have to pretend.) Zoe's peeved because Mick has gambled three months' rent on magic beans—oops, I mean the contents of a storage unit. For their money, they g