Mystery of the Zodiac killer

Rating: 7/10 (21 July 2014)

David Fincher manages to assemble some of the cast of The Avengers before Marvel Studios. Fincher again revisits the serial killer genre but this time based on true events of the Zodiac killer.
The killings take place in the early part of the picture and although not graphic is still disturbing and eerie. The rest of the film deals with the police and press investigation in trying to unmask killer conveying the frustrating nature of the investigation that is still unsolved.
The film gives us a narrative from the point of view of San Francisco Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith who spent over 20 years obsessively trying to identify the killer and whose book the film takes inspiration from.
The three leads Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr and Mark Ruffalo show zeal and frustration in equal measures as the exhaustive investigation over time places a burden on them all as they go round in circles with the evidence and suspects. The film believes that Robert Leigh Allen is the main suspect although the DNA case against him is unclear.
The film is dense, thoughtful and at times seem slow. There is good photography and set design, showing San the Francisco of the late 1960s/early 1970s is not a simple task.