Camden New Journal - Movies: Zodiac

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The Review - AT THE MOVIES with WILLIAM HALL
Published: 17 May 2007

Robert Downey Jr plays a crime reporter in the hunt for the serial killer Zodiac

Watch this one through your fingers

ZODIAC
Directed by David Fincher
Certificate 15

THIS is the kind of movie colourfully known in the business as “slice ’n’ dice”, based on the true story of the notorious Zodiac serial killer who terrified San Francisco in the 1960s and over the next two decades boasted of slaying a dozen victims.
We are taken into the heart of the hunt for “America’s own Jack the Ripper”, conducted with a gripping intensity that never lets up and seen through the eyes of three men whose search became an obsession that changed their lives and nearly broke them.
The detective in charge of the case (Mark Ruffalo) has to play it by the book, becoming increasingly frustrated as the body count soars and ‘Zodiac’ taunts them with hand-written notes encrypted in code.
Robert Downey Jr stars as an ace crime reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle who turns to drink when his “exclusives” come to nothing, and finally gives up the chase.
It is left to the newspaper’s unconventional cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal) to be the one man who won’t be put off the trail, using his intuition (“I like puzzles”) to solve the cryptic messages – too often just red herrings – and guess the killer’s next move.
The suspense climbs sky-high as the random murders spook an entire city. With a track record that includes Se7en and The Panic Room, director David Fincher has proved he can keep audiences on the edge of their seats.
At two hours and 40 minutes, this one over-runs its sell-by date by a good half hour. But you’ll still be watching most of it through your fingers.

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