Fincher Returns

Rating: 9/10 (21 April 2007)

After 5 years without doing a feature film, one could wonder how Fincher would make his come back. The same he always does his thing at the helm - while this one doesn't have any explosive and extensive use of photogrammetry that Fight Club and Panic Room has; it still uses some of Fincher's visual in your face gimmicks, like super impositions, slo-mo or just plain exquisite cinematography.
Some of the first scenes do get you hooked. But as long as this film had to be that is where some will feel it dragging on - and despite the lengthiness of it all, I never found it boring. One cannot brand this as a standard "whodunnit" either because some clues are dropped overtly and blatantly, and when confusion manifests, it becomes a story device to keep you guessing. While some may find this inferior to his perturbing 95 masterpiece SE7EN, it is definitely lighter in tone, and consequently DOES offer much for those who want to have a good time at the movies.
It ends with you having to decide, it even includes a rather bland but tension-coated moment where Gyllenhaal comes face to face with the (supposed) killer. But whatever you decide, the evidence the movie displays, including the supposed "facts" of title cards at the end can allow even those with an IQ of a gorilla to absorb what the film is trying to imply.
Having said that ZODIAC is 4/5.