It’s a long movie. Three hours of action, anguish and angst. The fact that it is based on a true story makes it that much more poignant. Years ago, in the 60s and the 70s, a serial killer terrorized the people in North California. There seemed to be no method and no motive. The killer was never caught. What the film tries to do is not just to trace the events of what happened but also to try and get into the minds of the people affected, especially the ones who burned within to catch the killer with the clues that he left behind.

The film is really a reconstruction of the whole case as it was – a futile exercise. But it was a case that most people were obsessive about, especially some in the police force as well as the media. Brilliantly done and executed, David Fincher raises it to almost a masterpiece. His earlier films, Seven and Fight Club have the same kind of approach. Somehow, the film brings out the terror that was almost palpable in the streets. In Seven, both Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt set the bar high as far as action offset by contemplation was concerned. He sets his scenes so well and watching Brad Pitt in Seven zipping through alleys in the rain juxtaposed against Morgan Freeman trying to think his way through all the leads in the silence of the library is so effective. Together, slowly the links between the many gory murders suddenly click into place as the connections are made.

Zodiac is handled with even more maturity if possible. There are no links however to snap into place. The real story was left unsolved. The story here is left open at the end. What the film celebrates is the investigative process. What is always in focus is the means not the end. So no great heroes – just a few dedicated cops and a couple of grey old newspapermen. The thrills come from the small connections, the clues that link up one crime with another, the handwriting samples, the boot prints – this is what holds the audience’s interest. 

Many of the younger ones in the audience wouldn’t even have heard of the old case. After all it’s been over 40 years since the killer cast a gloom over California. The case went on for years and the fact of the matter was that the man called himself Zodiac and after committing a murder, wrote to the major newspapers confessing his crime. Without revealing who he was of course. What he also did was to include mysterious cryptograms to be published.  It had all the elements necessary for a great film except maybe a conclusion. Fincher has tried and kept the storyline as close to the factual as possible and this is perhaps what is most gripping. There are a number of actors playing the many characters and the film is peppered with performances by Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards as the detectives, Robert Downey Jr. who plays the part of Paul Avery, the San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter who lived and breathed the case so much so that Zodiac started targeting him. Also in a lead role is Jake Gyllenhaal who plays the part of Robert Graysmith, a cartoonist for the Chronicle who, thanks to his obsession with puzzles, gets drawn into the Zodiac’s web until it costs him his dear ones. It is Graysmith’s book which he maintained that forms the basis for the movie. Fincher keeps a close eye on the facts recorded in this book while he gives the movie the wings of a motion picture.

The movie, like real life, spans years and many of the characters have only a few lines to deliver. However, it’s a strong script and it carries the film through three hours and at the end of it you know there’s nothing really that you would like to see cut. Both Downey and Ruffalo are perfect for their parts, portraying people who are so obsessed, it gets into their very bloodstream. James Vanderbilt, the screenwriter keeps the tension in the scenes way up high, punctuated by bursts of cynical humor. This is perhaps what raises the movie to a film worthy of the highest awards.

Harris Savides is the cinematographer and the kind of shots that he managed to achieve in The Game were phenomenal. Well, he’s achieved shots that are ground-breaking here as well. Shots that reflect a moody and yet suspense ridden atmosphere. The film also includes some great stunt visuals. Just tricks? They keep us riveted so it’s a job well done. What the people of Northern California went through – a sense of defeat, of gloom, of an emotional draining is what the viewers go through to a smaller degree when they watch the film. The film just puts Fincher up there once more among the greats. His forays into films might be sporadic but when he does make an appearance, he makes an impact all right. One hopes to see him in the movie arena a lot more often. But the fact that he is there is a wonderfully satisfying thought.