That was an excellent one.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Fantastic work from Fincher the exploration of obsession is a great ride, slow but measured and at points incredibly tense this film is magnificent. The cast act as a great ensemble all putting fantastic performances particularly Gyllenhall, I highly recommend this feature

The real-life Zodiac murders that plagued the Bay Area in the late 1960s make for great drama in this, one of David Finchers' finest achievements as a director. The "Zodiac", as he dubs himself, delights in taunting the cops and mailing letters to them, while obviously enjoying being one step ahead of them most of the time.However, the film doesn't really focus on him. Some of the murders are re-enacted, but this story focuses on the people who hunted the killer down, in particular Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), who inspired the Steve McQueen performance in "Bullitt", and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards). It's only in the last hour or so of "Zodiac" that it fully becomes the story of Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), a cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle who becomes obsessed with playing amateur detective, and keeping the case alive when everybody else has seemingly given up.Although this would seem to be unwieldy at two hours and 37 minutes (two hours and 43 minutes if you're watching the directors' cut), it remains utterly absorbing throughout, making the most of the police-procedural aspect of the storytelling. The material IS rather fascinating, remaining one of the most fascinating unsolved cases of all time.Towards the end, the narrative does become awfully familiar, as Graysmith alienates his wife (Chloe Sevigny, who is unfortunately not given anything really interesting to do) and ropes his kids into helping him work the clues. It's no surprise when she takes the kids and hauls ass out of there.Yet, as portrayed by Gyllenhaal, a very fine actor indeed, the mans' earnestness does make him a reasonably likeable character. And "Zodiac" also offers impressive showcases for a rich variety of supporting actors: Robert Downey, Jr., Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, John Carroll Lynch (who plays the late Arthur Leigh Allen, the person who remained the prime suspect for a long time), John Getz, John Terry, Candy Clark, Dermot Mulroney, Donal Logue, Philip Baker Hall, Zach Grenier, John Mahon, Adam Goldberg, James Le Gros, Charles Fleischer, and Clea DuVall. The scene in Fleischers' basement late in the film is brilliantly creepy.Fincher and company took themselves very seriously in making this film, and it shows. They were supposedly real sticklers for detail, using Graysmiths' books and actual case files as their source material. They also refrain from making this all about Zodiac, not bothering to re-enact those murders which had no witnesses or survivors. The documentary-style approach ultimately works wonders; there's very little room for melodrama, or overstatement. Set largely in the 1970s, emulation of that era is well done, including a score by veteran composer David Shire and a vintage opening Paramount logo sequence.While this viewer would hesitate to come right out and call this "perfect", he will say that it does come pretty close, entertaining and informing its audience and never making the film seem as long as it is.Nine out of 10.

The greatness of Zodiac is in it's monotony. The detectives' and journalists' wide-eyes slowly begin to sag as they seem to get further away from catching the infamous killer. We descend into madness with these characters; their obsession becomes ours, leaving us as flustered and frustration as they are. And because of its length and scope, you really experience the passing of every increasingly defeating year.

Movie Review: "Zodiac" (2007)After 5 years of breaking away from directing motion pictures, David Fincher returns with not only bringing editor Angus Wall back on board to deliver a kind of epic puzzle of a classic "serial-killer-thriller" elements spreading 22 years of screen-story from legendary as also infamous attack to murder to 17-something teenager on July 4th 1969 over point-of-view changing sequences featuring leading actor Jake Gyllenhaal as sole-parent Robert Graysmith, starting as cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper, before getting obsessed with the self-proclaimed "Zodiac-Killer", even able to confront the main suspect face-to-face after following his self-determined eagle-squad hobby-turning-into full-time occupation in 1983er lumberstore conclusions, when he gets help all the way by fellow-journalist Paul Avery, performed in demon-striking-fashion of private salvations from heavy numbing substance abuse after "Chaplin" (1993) and before his comeback with "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (2005) directed by Shane Black actor Robert Downey Jr., who delivers mesmerizing beats of physical decline in presenting an ultra-stressful job of spreading news to full resignation in a peaking scene with Jake Gyllenhaal at an home estate on one side, when on the other side awaits actor Mark Ruffalo as investigating, figuring and concluding Inspector David Toschi, when "Zodiac" directed by David Fincher, again alongside with cinematographer Harry Savides (1957-2012), break together new grounds of fully-integrating immersive as decisive early low-resoluted digital camera motions followed by extensive color correction to make the picture a fascinating genre mix with ultra-thrilling scenes of investigation as character interrogations only to split open audience moods with moments of acting delight by an ensemble cast entirely prepared to deliver the most unusual crime-drama of the 2000s, which remains a mystery-thriller to be revisited by suspense-indulging audience.© 2018 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)