A very good suspense thriller.

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2017)

This film deals with police investigations surrounding the crimes of Zodiac Assassin, a serial killer who plagued California without police officers having been able to discover him. It shows what police and the journalists did, and the letters the killer used to wrote, some of them containing codes that remain mostly undeciphered. The film is engaging, intense, and shows the link, sometimes difficult, between the media and the authorities, but the merit of the film is to give a broad view of what has happened over the years, being very faithful to the facts and keeping our attention when we already know the whole story.
The pace is good, allowing us to see the details. It may seem a little slower than other thrillers, but I didn't feel I was wasting time on accessory things. The environment is tense enough to keep our interest without fear. Cinematography has been smartly for that purpose when required. Crimes are quite intense and give us some of the most dramatic scenes. I almost didn't noticed special effects, they knew how to be subtle. Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Anthony Edwards, Mark Ruffalo and John Carroll Lynch are the most notable actors in a vast and competent cast, but Gyllenhaal deserves a very special applause for the way he has built his character, a quiet individual who is interested in search the killer by his own means. It's undoubtedly a psychologically dense and strong character, and the actor was perfectly capable of dealing with that. Ruffalo, on the other hand, showed the dismay of the police, after years of wild-goose chase.
I'm not sure, but I think Zodiac Case is still open in California. Anyway, this is a good thriller, true to the facts and with a strong, committed and capable cast. Even so, it's length, longer and slower than usual for this genre, can make some people lose their interest.