Portrait Of An Obsession

Rating: 8/10 (4 June 2007)

*Zodiac SPOILERS*
July 4th, 1969; two young people are brutally shot.
Only one of them (Lee Norris) survives.
The killer calls the police, saying that he killed them, and also confessing to the double murder of a young couple the Christmas before. This is only the beginning of a series of murders, coded messages and mysterious letters from a serial killer who calls himself 'Zodiac'. An odyssey that will bring top reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) to alcoholism and an early death at 60, detective Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) to the decision of leaving the SFPD Homicide Unit, his partner Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), assigned to the case with him to end up demoted and will become cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal)'s obsession, making him neglect his wife (Chloe Sevigny), but ultimately leading to him finding out who the killer actually is (at least according to him); a man who was considered a suspect and then dismissed, Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch).
Based on the autobiographic book by Robert Graysmith, David Fincher creates an intense and enjoyable (if a little sagging in some places) movie that manages to be a tense and scary thriller in the first part, and then suddenly shifting focus from the now-inoffensive (or is he?) Zodiac to Graysmith and his single-minded pursue.
This is due not only to the appropriate direction by Mr. Fincher, but also by the fine thespians assembled, almost a who's who of the best male actors (and the lone female Sevigny) (Ruffalo, Gyllenhaal and especially Edwards stand out), the good writing by James Vanderbilt, the style, the cinematography and the accuracy in recreating everything faithfully, especially the murders.
I also liked the idea of having the first victim, Mike Mageau, be both the first (played by Lee Norris) and the last (played by Jimmi Simpson) character to be seen in the movie.
Zodiac: 8/10.