The "Horoscope" Killer

Rating: 10/10 (30 August 2007)

Terrific drama about the infamous Zodiac killer, who murdered several people in the San Francisco Bay area in the late 1960s, early 1970s. The film, however, is not only about the brutal murders but more of how this complex case baffled and took up the lives of reporters and detectives alike.
Jake Gyllenhaal portrays Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist who works for the San Francisco Chronicle who becomes obsessed with solving the case, along with fellow Chronicle reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.). Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards portray the homicide detectives assigned to the case. Although everyone's performances were great, the performances from the three leads (Gyllenhaal, Ruffalo, and Downey, Jr.) are the best.
Overall, very long but still fast-paced and compelling.
The film "Dirty Harry" was actually inspired by these Zodiac killings. The killer's nickname was derived from him leaving the police and newspapers with ciphers they had to solve in order to understand their hidden messages. In no way does the nickname refer to the 12 Signs of the Zodiac such as Aries, Scorpio, Leo, etc.