00s Movie Review - Zodiac

Director: David Fincher
Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Crime
Runtime: 158 minutes
Year: 2007
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Clea DuVall, Adam Goldberg, Elias Koteas, Dermot Mulroney, Chloë Sevigny, Ione Skye, John Carroll Lynch, Lee Norris, Jimmi Simpson

Description: A San Francisco cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal) becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac killer.

Review: With “Zodiac”, director David Fincher brings us yet another engrossing film. It’s the story of a mysterious serial killer in San Francisco. It illustrates one of the most intriguing unsolved homicide cases of the US.
With his harassing letters, riddles, puzzles and codes, the San Francisco serial killer kept cops, journalists and civilians on the edge of their seats for years. “Zodiac” starts with some gruesome murders, which are very well shot. The killer demands that his messages are put on the front of some newspapers and threatens to kill more people if they don’t obey him. Fincher chose to tell the story from the perspective of the people who were involved in the case and what impact it had on their lives.
The cast of “Zodiac” has been carefully selected and they chose the right actors. The immense popular Jake Gyllenhaal plays a good role as the young unexperienced cartoonist Robert Graysmith. Robert Downey Jr. is Paul Avery, a journalist at ‘The Chronicle’ and is characterized by his self-destructive and irreverent character. With dry humor, arrogance and willfulness Downey Jr. is an enjoyable asshole. Mark Ruffalo is the best actor in the film, as infamous inspector David Toschi. Together with his colleague he is working on the Zodiac case, day and night.
The acting is strong, but the atmosphere is even stronger. He combines dark, grim and violent scenes with scenes in the streets of San Francisco and the meeting room at ‘The Chronicle’. With that, Fincher handles the way of the suspects and suspicion very well. The only problem I had was the length of the film. Towards the end, you start to feel it.
David Fincher succeeds to create an intriguing and intelligent thriller, about a very interesting case. “Zodiac” is an amazing film.

Rating: 4/ 5