During the late sixties a serial killer terrorized northern California with five random murders accompanied by provocative letters and cryptograms sent to the San Francisco Chronicle. He signed them "Zodiac." To this date, the identity of the killer remains unresolved. Whether Zodiac has resumed normal life, gone underground, or died will likely forever continue to be a mystery although Robert Graysmith's speculative books Zodiac and Zodiac Unmasked are certain to gain more popular appeal due to David Fincher's latest movie—his best since Se7en (1995).

Spanning two decades over its 160 minutes, the main strengths of Fincher's psychological thriller fusion epic lie in his thorough handling of the infamous case, but this meticulous attention to detail and accuracy will underwhelm any audience expecting a big finale payoff. Zodiac isn't designed to follow a narrow path; it sprawls along a number of threads just like the actual case. Lacking a Dirty Harry hero to neatly dispatch the elusive psycho, you'll leave the theater creeped out that other sociopathic murderers must be running amuck out there--somewhere. Welcome to reality mainstream film time!

Despite the unresolved true to life narrative, the journey still remains worthwhile, however—fine ensemble acting (most notably from Robert Downey Jr. and Mark Ruffalo) and insights into the inner workings of both media and police investigations are darkly cloaked with Hitchcockian suspense throughout. The dark aura of the cinematography and impressionistic musical references to the drug-addled counterculture effectively enhance the mood.

Before the opening credits roll, Fincher begins with a literal bang. It's the 4th of July with fireworks exploding over the outskirts of Vallejo, California as a young couple seeks a quiet parking spot. Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" eerily wafts from the car radio as an even creepier low riding dark car looms, leaves, and returns for the initial kill--one bloodied victim miraculously survives and serves to bookend the twisted narrative. The killer will destroy more lives—some literally and others figuratively, as careers and lives change while pursuing the psychopath.

Above all, Zodiac apparently desires attention, so he begins to contact the media. It begins on August 1, 1969 when three newspapers--the Vallejo Times-Herald, the San Francisco Examiner, and the San Francisco Chronicle--simultaneously receive similar letters and a portion of a cryptogram that together he claimed would provide his identity. Instead, the letter rips off themes from "The Most Dangerous Game," a Richard Connell short story frequently included in high school literature anthologies about an obsessed hunter who stalks shipwrecked humans on his private island. Naturally, this causes a freaky frenzy in the Bay area, and an obsession with Zodiac spreads like an epidemic.

We primarily follow youthful Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal) as he befriends cynical crime reporter Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) and strives to untangle the disjointed clues. Naive and idealistic, Graysmith is the only character barely able to jump through the roadblocks and hoops strewn along the way. While it can be expected that journalistic interests and police work would clash in such a circus atmosphere, it's also illuminating to see how jurisdictional boundaries also block communication and hinder a unified police investigation. The two policemen most closely pursuing the case are from San Francisco—intense and aggressive Inspector Dave Tosci (Ruffalo) and his competent, low key partner William Armstrong (Anthony Edwards). Each of these characters submerge themselves into the case and eventually deal with it in different fashion--either turning to drugs, becoming disenchanted with the justice system, escaping to a quieter lifestyle with the family, separating from the family into total immersion (and writing about the experience).

Fincher thankfully includes a few chuckles to relieve the tension, very much necessary because a number of sequences are chilling—especially a scene where Graysmith is invited into a cluttered basement to view a film clip with a prime Zodiac suspect. I've not experienced that kind of dread since first seeing Vera Miles decide to open the cellar door to Mrs. Bates. But beyond the thriller aspects and historical unfolding of the events, Zodiac works primarily because it allows us inside a few of the characters who are caught up in a mind boggling situation. It can be pretty cool to experience a big budget Hollywood production reach an ambiguous European style finale for a change.

One note for the fact checker: Granted that the main point of Gyllenhaal's character is his purity and idealism; thus, the Boy Scout reference. However, no self-respecting Eagle Scout would ever refer to himself as an "Eagle Scout—First Class." That would be like a General referring to himself as a Private.