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Movies / On DVD / Zodiac
Zodiac

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Zodiac (2007)

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Reviews Counted:223

Fresh:198

Rotten:25

Average Rating:7.6/10

Consensus: A quiet, dialogue-driven thriller that delivers with scene after scene of gut-wrenching anxiety. David Fincher also spends more time illustrating nuances of his characters and recreating the mood of the 70s than he does on gory details of murder.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for some strong killings, language, drug material and brief sexual images

Runtime: 2 hrs 42 mins

Genre: Murder, Killer, , Cops, True Story, Thriller, Serial Killers, 1970s, 1960s, Detectives, Murder Mysteries, Murder Investigations, Based On A Novel, Theatrical Release

Theatrical Release:18-05-2007

Synopsis: David Fincher's (FIGHT CLUB, SE7EN) adaptation of the Robert Graysmith book masterfully transports viewers to the Bay Area in the 1960s and '70s by drawing on actual case files from the notoriously... David Fincher's (FIGHT CLUB, SE7EN) adaptation of the Robert Graysmith book masterfully transports viewers to the Bay Area in the 1960s and '70s by drawing on actual case files from the notoriously unsolved Zodiac killer mystery. As a murderer with seemingly random targets starts sending terrifying threats and cryptic codes to police and publishers all around San Francisco, fear and paranoia descend on the city. Through slow pacing, Fincher creates an effectively chilling atmosphere in which he spins a thick web of character-driven plotlines. Early scenes depicting the Zodiac's first-known murders vividly capture the victim's fear and agony and will leave viewers haunted. When the Zodiac's ciphers arrive at the San Francisco Chronicle, they spark the interest of Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), a young cartoonist with a penchant for puzzles. As the former Boy Scout earnestly tries to decode the messages, eccentric reporter Paul Avery approaches the case from a career-boosting angle. Meanwhile, a string of investigators from four jurisdictions carry on a complex and unsatisfying search for the elusive killer. Inspectors Dave Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) at times collide with Avery and Graysmith, whose interest in the case extends long after most have given up. Even at two-and-a-half hours in length, this dense murder mystery should manage to keep its audience riveted throughout. Paired with stellar performances from Ruffalo, Downey, Gyllenhaal, and countless others, a clever script produces well-developed characters, and the film's art direction, music, and costumes all combine to create an authentic sense of time and place. The somber tone of the atmospheric thriller gives the film a documentary-like aesthetic at times, lending weight to the story's facts while never relying on cheap tricks. Unlike murder mysteries such as THE BLACK DAHLIA, ZODIAC invites viewers to develop theories of their own, allowing them to come to their own conclusions. [More]

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Chloe Sevigny, Anthony Edwards

Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey, Chloe Sevigny, Anthony Edwards, Gary Oldman, Mark Ruffalo, Ione Skye, Clea DuVall, Brian Cox, Elias Koteas, John Carroll Lynch, Dermot Mulroney, Donal Logue, Pell James, Jimmi Simpson, Charles Fleischer

Director: David Fincher

Director: David Fincher
Screenwriter: James Vanderbilt
Composer: David Shire
Producer: Arnold Messer, Mike Medavoy
Studio: Paramount Pictures

[See More Credits]

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    The Zodiac Reads The Chronicle
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1 - 4 of 6

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Reviews for Zodiac

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 >> >|
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David Fincher's sixth feature potently blends the dynamics of the newsroom drama with those of the police procedural.

Full Review Source: Sight and Sound | comment Comment
10/18/07
Graham Fuller
Graham Fuller
Sight and Sound

Zodiac is that marvel and rarity, an adult Hollywood murder thriller.

Full Review Source: Financial Times | comment Comment
10/15/07
Nigel Andrews
Nigel Andrews
Financial Times

A film of flailing loose ends, an epic of frustration. The suspense lies not in when the murderer is going to be caught, but whether, and how.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
08/08/07
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Encouraging the audience to draw their own conclusions, this moody masterpiece is up there with David Fincher's best.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
08/08/07
James Mottram
James Mottram
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Downey steals the show with yet another inspired performance, while his co-stars deliver solid turns aided by Fincher’s meticulous direction.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
08/08/07
Sun Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

You sense that inside this meaty, 157-minute opus there’s a six-hour mini-series just itching to get out.

Full Review Source: thelondonpaper | comment Comment
08/08/07
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
thelondonpaper

Lucid and forceful, Zodiac is sensational in the right way.

Full Review Source: Total Film | comment Comment
08/08/07
Jamie Graham
Jamie Graham
Total Film

This is an intelligent, persuasively acted, superbly photographed film, with a subtle score by David Shire, who was chosen because Fincher admired his work on The Conversation and All the President's Men.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
06/30/07
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

Zodiac is a thoroughly engrossing, brilliantly directed and superbly acted thriller that is quite simply one of the best films of the year. Unmissable.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
06/19/07
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Fincher’s most mature work to date will earn respect over time.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
06/02/07
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It is impossible not to enjoy Zodiac: if enjoy is the word for a picture so often scary and stomach-turning.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
05/19/07
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

... this gripping character study becomes more agonisingly suspenseful as it gets closer to an answer that can't be confirmed.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
05/18/07
Kim Newman
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
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Several bravura suspense sequences – can’t help but recall slasher convention.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
05/17/07
Ben Walters
Ben Walters
Time Out
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Fincher is on top form: this is his best, most mature film yet.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
05/15/07
Jamie Russell
Jamie Russell
BBC
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Leave it to Fincher to reinvent the serial killer thriller.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
04/07/07
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

An enthrallingly unsatisfactory film, worth watching and deciphering

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/27/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

Zodiac is a marvel of moody photography, as it tries to capture the funereal pall hanging over a metropolitan city in the grip of fear.

Full Review Source: Cinefantastique | comment Comment
03/10/09
Steve Biodrowski
Steve Biodrowski
Cinefantastique

...an effective reenactment of some chilling real-life events.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
01/21/09
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

There are no tidy, last-minute plot twists to make you feel good in Fincher's Zodiac, just focus -- to keep an audience focused -- and the most disciplined filmmaking you've seen in forever.

Full Review Source: NPR.org | comment Comment
10/18/08
Bob Mondello
Bob Mondello
NPR.org

[W]here Se7en, with its stygian gloom and theatrical executions, inflated the serial killer genre to gothic proportions, Zodiac lets the air back out. It is methodical rather than macabre, clinical rather than cruel.

Full Review Source: New Republic | comment Comment
09/18/08
Christopher Orr
Christopher Orr
New Republic
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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