'Zodiac' warms up a cold case

David Fincher’s latest film gives human weight to a tale of a real serial killer.

from the March 2, 2007 edition

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The cast of characters is sprawling and diverse. Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) is the San Francisco Chronicle crime reporter who becomes increasingly pulled into the case. With his goatee and scarves, he's like a fop inquisitor – until eventually, the grind of the investigation unravels him. The Chronicle's cartoonist, Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), is an amateur sleuth who, as the years tick by without an arrest, becomes as obsessed as Avery. Sacrificing his family life and his job, he sets out to write a book about the hunt for the killer and even offers up a solution. (His bestselling book is the basis for the screenplay.)

The third major player in "Zodiac" is homicide inspector Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo), who enters the picture once the Zodiac killings begin in San Francisco. Although Toschi in real life was the basis for both the Steve McQueen character in "Bullitt" and Michael Douglas's cop in "The Streets of San Francisco," Ruffalo wisely tamps down the showboaty side of this man. Ultimately, he is as beleaguered by everyone else by the cold trails and dead ends, of which we see plenty.

The doggedness of the pursuit, the painstaking accumulation of clues, has its own inherent drama. Much of "Zodiac" involves people jabbering at each other rather than running around with guns. The real violence, especially once the film moves into its second hour, is emotional, not physical.

The excellent cast also includes Brian Cox as publicity hound attorney Melvin Belli, John Carrol Lynch as a prime suspect, Charles Fleischer as the suspect's creepy associate, and Philip Baker Hall as a besotted handwriting expert. They all give human weight to a grisly odyssey. Grade: A–

• Rated R for some strong killings, language, drug material, and brief sexual images.

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