Lot of surface but not enough substance

Rating: 4/10 (4 January 2009)

Zodiac is second of two movies I have seen directed by David Fincher. As "Seven" has been on of my favorite movies my expectations were reasonably high while regarding Zodiac.
Zodiac follows series of murders, the publicity they stir, their investigations and the characters moving in the middle of their circumstances. The pace is slow and two and half hours are spent.
The aesthetics seem to play main part. Cinematography is careful, the sets and production are well thought through all the way. Esthetics seem to miss the heart of the movie. When suddenly the buildup of skyscraper is shown in fast forward it never becomes apparent why this had to be shown. The soundtrack seems to try wok as some kind of periodical of 1960's and seventies but it never becomes apparent why these songs had to be played. They as the cinematography do not seem to serve the movie.
Script tries to hold together wide variety of facts, happenings and long time-line. Either script fails to point essential ingredients, catalysts and shake those into surprising, relieving or revealing reactions or / and actors are not able to portrait those in their performances.
In either case the movie feels like a lot of surface and not a lot of substance.