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Zodiac
Rated R for violence, language;
Michael Machosky can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7901.
Not surprisingly, almost every serial killer film since has taken large bites out of "Seven"'s style.
Fincher's "Zodiac" guts nearly all the conventions he helped create -- smartly refusing to give us what we expect from a serial-killer movie.
The Zodiac Killer was a nightmare come to life in the aftermath of the '60s -- thrill-killing isolated Californians and taunting the police through baffling, cipher-laden communications to the media. He was never caught.
Although several victims survived, Zodiac left little forensic evidence behind. He stoked the frenzy by writing of his desire to stop a school bus and shoot all "the little darlings" as they come out.
San Francisco Chronicle reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) tracked the case, digging up leads the police didn't have.
Inspectors Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) gradually sink into labyrinths of red herrings, thwarted revelations and legal blockades. "Zodiac" provides a three-hour crash course in the details of detection -- the narrowing down of suspects, the delicate archeology of digging up clues, the painstaking process of seeking a warrant.
A young cartoonist at the paper, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), becomes obsessed first with the Zodiac's ciphers, then the broader puzzle of a trail slowly going cold.
The personal lives of the trackers begin to unravel. Avery is threatened specifically by the killer. Graysmith's wife is terrified that the killer may target them.
The film is based on his writing.
Ultimately, "Zodiac" is as morally provocative as "Seven," but refuses to provide the payoffs we've come to expect.
In the end, it's as much about the all-consuming obsession of the hunt as it is about the hunted.
- In wide release
