Gripping and fascinating without having to bombard you with special effects or cheap gimmicks.

Rating: 8/10 (22 October 2007)

How pleasant it is to have a film like Zodiac be released during a time in which masses of computer generated imagery, sequels to films made years ago and out and out star power are the reasons to flock to see films. Releasing Zodiac in May, just before or perhaps right at the beginning of the summer rush for blockbuster supremacy was a very bold move and regardless of how it did, it will be one of the best films of the calendar year with possible Oscar nominations ready in waiting.
Zodiac is a detective story that won't quit revolving around a non-detective who wont quit and also features a police detective who does sort of quit but then wants to help the non-detective for good measure. Zodiac's also a number of other things; it's someone's life story as they start out in a job at a newspaper, meet people, get married and have children; it's also a horror film of sorts with the murdering of teenage couples forming the basis of the shocks but it's a modern horror without the stupid teens basically sealing their fate since it's the killer who hunts them down rather than them putting themselves in venerable positions. The film is also an absolute lesson in cinematography amongst the acting, script and pacing since not only does it all look and sound good but you can look deeper into what we're seeing and hearing. An example of this is when a bloody rag is held up as evidence and the cheater exclaims that it's "a window into his soul." What's relevant here is that the rag is covered in black stripes making it look like a barred window you get in jails  it may be a window metaphorically but for the time being, it's a window that's cut off.
We are spared any pleasantries involving Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) who's a cartoonist at a San Francisco newspaper and instead get the gist of things of who he is through lighting and overall character. Gyllenhaal acts really well which is one thing but another is the fact that whenever Graysmith is on screen from the beginning, the 'introductory' phase, the light is very bright and revealing almost creating an angelic, innocent persona as opposed to everyone else's where the lighting is dark and grim; one such exempt time is when Graysmith is in the bar with the detective on the case: the lighting is bleak in the bar and yet the drink that arrives in front of Graysmith is light blue with umbrellas and a straw, keeping the theme running up to this point, at least. Of course; when Graysmith gets more involved, things change.
Despite being called Zodiac and masquerading as a film revolving around San Francisco's notorious killer, the film dabs in and out of the killer's story and uses it as more of a backdrop than anything. This is nothing like Fincher's previous serial killer film Se7en in the sense it isn't two guys trying to crack a case of murder and confusion. The murder scenes are well done and the following phone calls add an eerie amount of realism, if the calls were real then all the more credit because it all works well when combined with the call to the television centre particularly standing out. Likewise, the demise of a certain character's overall life is embedded nicely into the story as we see everything from one man's point of view as we do with Graysmith's marriage and its tension.
Interestingly, the final third of the film doesn't so much focus on the capturing of the killer as any other film would because this was based on real events and in the real world, it would seem that the good guys don't always win. Needless to say, Zodiac has never actually been caught but the film plays out like an aftermath of the infamous events that happened in the 1960s and 70s yet doesn't wander down familiar, cops and robbers territory like, say, Red Dragon (2002) did where loose ends are tied up and twists occur. Zodiac is gripping and involving in its own way and is a film that will surely have a better chance of withstanding the test of time than other films released these days.