Review in a Hurry: Director David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club) eases up on the gore and the quick cuts to deliver a true-crime serial killer tale from the ‘70s. The realistic tone should get him critical respect, but fans will still recognize the handiwork they love.
The Bigger Picture: Sorry, kids—they didn't have Nine Inch Nails back in the ‘70s, but you can still tell this is a Fincher film by the fact that everything is dirty and underlit, and there are a couple of CGI cityscape shots that have his familiar touch to them. The serial killer being pursued this time is also no Kevin Spacey-ish mastermind, but rather the publicity-hungry cryptogram fetishist who called himself the Zodiac and used to terrorize San Francisco, though it seems he probably took credit for a lot of crimes he didn't actually commit.
Not content to merely tell the tale of the cop on the case (Mark Ruffalo) or the self-destructive reporter on the story (Robert Downey Jr.), Fincher and screenwriter James Vanderbilt also follow newspaper cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), who obsesses over the case long after everyone else has given up, determined to find the one thing they've all missed.
This, of course, attracts the mysterious killer back into action.
The Zodiac case remains officially unsolved, but noone wants to sit through a three-hour crime thriller with no ending, so rest assured that the movie definitely has a point of view and sense of closure when it comes to the Zodiac's identity.
As Fincher films go, this is closer to The Game than anything, but it rewards patience more than most. It's also very much a guy movie—Chloë Sevigny's the only significant non-murdered female presence, and she's barely there, so this probably isn't good date material.
It is, however, a better movie than any of the recent Best Picture nominees, and even without industrial music, the soundtrack's still awesome.
The 180—a Second Opinion: Many will bash the movie simply for being long, moody and dark, but chances are you expected all those things. And why does Gyllenhaal seems to be playing Graysmith as borderline autistic, without explanation?