It was OK but has serious problems

Rating: 6/10 (11 March 2007)

Movie based on the unsolved Zodiac killings in California in the 1960s-1970s. A man was killing people with no rhyme or reason and sent notes to California newspapers daring them to figure out who he was. Reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) try to figure out who he is while police inspector Davod Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and his partner (Anthony Edwards) try to catch him.
This film has a lot of good things going for it--it's well directed (excellent use of wide screen), has some good acting (especially by Downey) and manages to wring some suspense out of the story despite the fact that you know how it ends. There's also good supporting performances by Chloe Sevigny and Dermot Mulroney. Still this film has three serious problems. One is Gyllenhaal. He is a good actor but appears totally out of his depth here. He wears one expression the entire movie and his acting quickly becomes annoying. The second is the length of this movie--it's way too long. It rambles on for 160 minutes and gets tedious more than once. I kept looking at my watch and more than once considered leaving. I stayed because I figured I had paid my $10.00 so--why not? Also the story keeps jumping around and, if something has nothing to do with the killer, it's tossed off casually.
For example...Sevigny is introduced as a date of Gyllenhaal. We don't see her until about 30 minutes later and by this time she's his wife AND they have kids! No mention was made of them getting married or having kids. This is a little thing but it caught my attention and was distracting.
So--it has good acting and direction but goes on far too long and was too disjointed. I give it a 6.