Especially Robert Graysmith, who wrote the definitive book on the subject of one of the most

baffling unsolved serial killings in the state of California. It was certainly the most notorious.

    David Fincher (SE7EN, Fight Club) loved it, too. After years of people asking, 'So, what's next?' he finally returns to the screen in a less stylized, more story driven narrative that sets the gold standard of police procedurals. Think they do it good on Law & Order: Sports Utility Vehicle or CSI: Medway? You ain't seen nothing yet.

    It's a film about obsession and how curiosity really does kill the cat. All of those involved lost out in some way. None moreso than Robert Graysmith, played by a hauntingly frail Jake Gyllenhaal, who just happens to be at the meeting when the first cipher code is sent into the San Francisco Chronicle. What follows is a slow spiral into madness, as Robert becomes more and more obsessed with the case, losing his job and his wife in the process. One character quotes that "he looks the type", and you can see it: disheveled, unshaven, with a wild fire in his eyes that is desperately searching for a purpose. Where the last half of the film is mostly

    Then enter Detective Dave Toschi (played with a cocky, know it all bravado by Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony "Goose" Edwards). They're the cops assigned to hunt down Zodiac, and while their story is far more by the books (hence the "procedural" element) than Graysmith's own lone wolf obsession or Avery's turn at wiliness, you're perpetually engrossed by their doggedness in catching this guy, like when they revisit a crime scene every year on the anniversary of the murder just hoping to find something, anything. Years are lost down cold trails and dead ends. On more than one occasion, Toschi and Armstrong could be staring down at Zodiac, but circumstantial evidence clears the suspect. You can see every defeat pounded into their eyes. Eventually, they don't even care about catching the guy, they just want the entire damn case to be over.

    Those expecting a lot of graphic violence and huge police shoot-outs a la 'Dirty Harry' (which used a Zodiac-esque killer as its main antoganist), you will be sadly disappointed. We do get to see Zodiac at work, especially in the beginning with a chillingly tense scene between two kids up on lover's lane, but it's never an in your face 'Saw' type violence. And for that, it works better. There's no hyper-stylization and dark, backlit corners for the killer to stalk through, he actually kills one couple in broad daylight, and because of its 'I don't want to shock you attitude', it's all the more shocking.

    Spanning twenty years, ‘Zodiac’ has a lot to cover, and even with 160 minutes on its side, still needs a written epilogue at the end. It may run long, but it is never once dull. Editor Angus Wall keeps the pace going with a myriad of characters and a compelling mystery that has withstood nearly 40 years of scrutiny and questioning.

    While it never solves the case (but it certainly comes close), 'Zodiac' satisfies more in its 160 minutes of inconclusiveness than most films half the length can accomplish. This is the first must see film of 2007 and will be counted among the very best of police procedurals.

centered on Graysmith, the first half is stolen away by Paul Avery, in a killer performance from the indomitable Robert Downey Jr. (seriously, will someone please give this guy a huge box office franchise alre...oh, right, right.) Avery is a crime reporter who gets tangled up the investigation, and is even threatened by the Zodiac before burning out under his own, mad and manic obsession. He's the kind of guy who just doesn't give a fuck about anything...except this case, and that's what gets him in the end. Downey's delivery of even the most filler of lines is on point and, in any other movie, his absence would be a deal-killer.

Funny how that works. The violence, as with the rest of the film, is firmly grounded in reality. Gunshots go off with little fanfare and those wanting a severed head in a bucket...sorry, this is a more confident David Fincher behind the helm. He doesn't need to wow us with over the top cuts and flashes. He trusts his story and his characters to take what they have and run with it.