Suspenseful thriller is based on true, unsolved case...excellent performances...

Rating: 7/10 (2 August 2007)

ZODIAC starts off with a bang, and then gets so bogged down in intense detective work that the thriller aspect is diluted by the time the first hour is over. Furthermore, since the case was never really solved, there's no real payoff at the end--just more speculation.
Despite this, it manages to hold the attention for well over two hours with a tale that zig-zags back and forth between a newspaper (The San Francisco Chronicle), its crime reporter (ROBERT DOWNEY, JR.) and cartoonist (JAKE GYLLENHAAL), and the police force with MARK RUFFALO as the lead detective on the case and his partner (ANTHONY EDWARDS) both committed to finding the Zodiac killer.
The clever murderer keeps the police at bay over a period of years and still they try to uncover each clue and spend a great deal of time working on the unsolved murders that eventually claim some thirteen lives. The first murders are staged brilliantly by director David Fincher, and the film becomes a gripping search for the sadistic killer. But after the murder of a taxicab driver, the film veers into detective work with a penchant for detail that soon becomes bogged down in too much exposition.
JAKE GYLLENHAAL is excellent as the boyishly enthusiastic cartoonist who soon becomes obsessed by the case. He's the one who eventually wrote two books on the subject. His scariest moment comes toward the end of the film when he's invited to the home of an acquaintance of the killer hoping to glean some important information. His fear and horror that the man might be the killer himself almost makes up for the fact that the story has no real solution. It's a brilliantly staged scene with his panic attack never overplayed.
The other performances are uniformly good, but it's Gyllenhaal who does the most convincing job in the central role. Sad to see DERMOT MULRONEY wasted in the small role of a police captain.
Summing up: Suspenseful and well directed, but loses some momentum when it shifts from the horrific murders to the relentless detective work.