The fruits of obsession

Rating: 9/10 (5 February 2008)

Do you want to see a film about a serial killer with no solid conclusion? David Fincher does, so he made it. That is a little unfair, but essentially that is the genesis of this film.
David Fincher was a young boy in San Francisco when the Zodiac killer started to strike. He can distinctly recall the little articles of fear that floated throughout the city and when he wasn't allowed to go on the school bus because his mother was too afraid for his safety. It is something that Fincher has, to an extent, obsessed about. How apt then that this film should be such a detailed and effective study of obsession.
Jake Gyllenhaal's Robert Graysmith is an awkward character, a good man but unusual. However, when his paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, receives teasing ciphers from the Zodiac killer, he, an outsider in the paper's hierarchy, becomes more and more interested and more and more obsessed. He descends from a man who likes solving crossword puzzles to a man utterly determined to solve one of the most complex and notorious unsolved crimes in US history. It is utterly compelling to watch.
Fincher evokes the period of the late sixties and early seventies with ease. The film is perfectly designed and at many points ingeniously shot. He creates tension brilliantly. The fear that soaks into the city and the characters is almost tangible and the sheer horror of the few murders that are shown serves to enhance this. Some sequences are genuinely terrifying, and yet nothing happens in them. Examples like this show Fincher to be a master.
He is supported in his efforts by an intelligent script delivered by a pitch perfect cast. James Vanderbilt's screenplay is responsible. It ends with a bit of speculation but all of the events that are crucial to the case happened and you get the sense that this is a fair representation. He provides detailed characters that the talented performers devour with ease. Mark Ruffalo delivers a truly fine performance. Robert Downey Jnr. does one of his usual mumbling but somehow gripping supporting roles (gripping mainly because you're straining to her what he's saying). However, Jake Gyllenhaal is, once again, the standout. He really has developed into one of the world's finest actors and has a rich and varied career ahead of him.
This is one of the finest thrillers of 2007, a really interesting, entertaining and gripping work. It outshines the slightly surreal nature of "Fight Club" and is a masterclass in film-making from one of contemporary cinema's often unappreciated greats. But this is more than just a simple thriller. It is an exploration of one of humanity's most perplexing traits: obsession. And who better to do it than an obsessive.