A little long, but it was an extremely well-made movie. The acting was great, especially Downey. This year is shaping up to be amazing, with already two A-s.

A-

A question to those who saw it....had it been released in November/December last year would it have had any chances at awards or at least nominations?

Downey would have a shot at supporting.

so digital?

I would guess Cinematography as well. Those tracking shots were pretty delicious (lol).

Not Fincher's best, but I still enjoyed it quite a bit. The soundtrack was spectacular, especially because we didn't hear the normal cliched 60's/70's songs. Donovan's "Hurdy Gurdy Man" in the closing credits was the best use of a song since Children of Men and "Crimson King". Ruffalo was also good and you could really feel the film slow down when his character left and Jake Gylenhall took over. I liked that the film stayed true to real life in that it arrived at no conclusions.

I found the lake scene to be one of the most difficult to watch scenes in my life. Perhaps it's because it was staged so well that my brain actually felt it was real. I got the same feeling in my stomach watching it as I did when I see something like people jumping out of the WTC or that Viet Kong guy being shot in the head (famous photo of it). Anyway, I gave the film a high B+.

I think so, too.

B+

A very good noir drama, that lacks a bit of emotional and character connection, personally. Fincher is operating at full level here though.

Incredibly stylish and fantastically directed, this is not Fincher's best only because Fight Club and Se7en are modern classics. It runs a bit long, but certainly doesn't feel two and a half hours, and is fully deserving of its length. It's basically two investigations in one, but it doesn't feel redundant because each character investigates different suspects and different aspects. The transition between the two halves stumbles a bit, but it soon regains form and leads into a great finish. The first half hour or so, basically just introducing the case, is terrific without much character development, but once the characters take over it's a whole other ballgame. As I said before, the only misstep is in the middle, but it's smooth sailing the rest of the way.

The cast ensemble is terrific with Downey Jr. clearly standing out, but Ruffalo, Gyllenhaal and Anthony Edwards (with hair!) are great also. The supporting players, consisting of many character actors, are somewhat underused but just make the cast all the better. I'd love for Downey Jr. to get some Oscar attention - he should have more than just the one nomination - but I wonder if the film is too early in the year. Still, his performance is fantastic - hilarious yet depressing at the same time. He really drives the beginning of the film, and it's too bad that he just fades away in the last half.

Fincher is rapidly becoming one of my favourite directors, with this, the aforementioned classics, and the underrated The Game all under his belt now. The way that pivotal scenes in this film are staged and shot only add to the brilliance of the flick, and make certain moments truly terrifying. From the opening shot, basically a tracking shot from within a car, the cinematography never falters, and scenes like the cab ride, the beach attack, and the time-elapse building are just highlights in a incredibly well-directed film.

It's not a perfect film, but the style is so innovative and the story so involving that it's pretty close. Perhaps some of it could have been edited down, but I really felt like it needed the lengthy running time to completely tell the story of the Zodiac. A great start to the year and a film that's likely to be in my top five at year's end.

A

Amazing work. I loved every minute of this.

The attention to detail and deep devotion Fincher has for the subject matter is clearly evident throu-out this film.

A stunning piece of cinema and one of the best of the year.

A

I think the best compliments I could pay this film, because I've seen and read a lot about the Zodiac is...

- Factually, there's very little here that's made up (or at least how Greysmith describes it)
- Even though I knew what was going to happen (and that nobody else was in mortal danger, and they wouldn't catch him) I was still tense.

Someone brought up:


Like real life, that avenue didn't go anywhere. The next scene is him going to the prison and trying to get the name "Rick" out of the woman but she just says "Lee". That clicks everything into place.

Marshall was a person of interest, and that's why he's important in the film, because there were a number of creepy guys considered, but not considered the prime one in the case. That was only ever Leigh.

A- Too lengthy for me for a thriller, but its probably the best film technically, with its direction, cast, screenplay and the cinematography is excellent, it kept me thrilled.

I didn't love it. It's lavishly crafted, but I found the characters surprisingly... unsurprising, in terms of actions and motivations (Ruffalo and Gyllenhaal in particular). I think they could have gone somewhere interesting with Downey's character, but he really plays second fiddle in screentime to the aforementioned two.

The story only half worked for me, too. A lot of it's intriguing, but it's also repetitive: someone gets a lead, goes after the lead, turns out to be a dead end. Wash, rinse, repeat.

There's a lot of good stuff in it. It feels very epic. Very atmospheric. But it's only interesting till the point at which the characters all start doing the same thing over again in the exact same manner.

B/B-

To long and dragged quite a bit but it was a great and thrilling movie nonetheless.

B

B+


A bit overrated, it seems to me and that is coming from a huge David Fincher fan? Was I let down, though? Nope because I pretty much knew what was expecting me. People who walked in and expected another Se7en were sorely disappointed of course. This is not a movie about a serial killer. This is a film about obsession and how it can ruin our lives. The Zodiac killer might have killed only a few people, but this film's protagonists were just as much his victims as the ones he has killed.

David Fincher shows once again that he is a master of his craft. The film is beautifully shot, the time period is recreated perfectly and there are several just "perfect" shots and scenes in this film. The killing scene at the lake was the most suspenseful scene I have seen this whole year. There was something so unbearably tense and creepy about it, especially considering how mundane it plays out and how low-key the whole thing is kept.

As far as the performances go, I would say that everyone was good (even Mark Ruffalo!), but no one really wow'ed me. The gripes I had with this film was the length, for one and the way some characters were played out for another. I never thought the film was boring, but some of the stuff simply seemed unnecessary to be shown. Moreover, I found it a bit weird that the obsession of Graysmith only starts in the scond half of the film almost out of nowhere and around the same time Robert Downey Jr.'s character almost entirely disappears. I wished some better development in that department.

That said, it is a well-shot, well-directed, well-acted all-around solid drama with nice thriller elements which never outweigh, though. Fincher's third or fourth best film...

Just rented this film and finished it, all I can think about is this movie. The story is great, the acting is good, the direction/cinematography is INCREDIBLE. I just completely loved it and it is my new top film of 2007. Too bad that it is being ignored at Award shows.

Well, it's really interesting during the whole 2h40m (even if slow-paced), in an intelectual (journalistic) way, more than in a visceral way, though the death scenes are really some of the best I've seen - slashers, learn from this. As many noticed, Fincher's direction isn't as "showy" as previous works, but it's quite efficient and more mature. I'll have to think about this one before I settle a place in me personal top 10, but I think it's in there? If it's not, it's pretty damn close. I haven't stopped thinking about it, which is a good thing. Hmmmmm...

This blew me away when i saw it for the first time last week. Absolutely amazing work from Sir Fincher. This is his best work - the equal of Seven at worst. The attention to detail is just perfect. The mix between focus on the killings vs the investigation and the whole theme of obsession amongst the key players is again - perfect. Cant stop thinking about it.

Grade A+

Love it. One of the very best 2007 had to offer.

Grade: A

I bought the Director's Cut, and can't wait to finally have the time to get around to watching it.

The Director's Cut's not all that different from the theatrical version. This isn't Blade Runner or Apocalypse Now we're talking about. There's a couple extra scenes but that's it. Not that the film needed anything more, it's still as great as when I first saw it.

Too good for its own good. General audiences wanted a slightly star-vehicle-ized, entertaining picture like the trailer suggested, but all they got was a very slow, rarely-enjoyable, in the entertaining sense of the word, movie with an anti-climactic feel.

Luckily, I'm not general audiences

A

Yeah people ive spoken to say they felt a little bored - but I wasnt bored at anytime throughout the film. Im glad it wasnt a gore fest either. The few killings they showed were done perfectly.

Part of what made the movie work so well for me was that I was as hooked when the characters were just sitting around talking as I was during the Zodiac murder scenes. I was actually kind of surprised when it got to the final scene (given how far apart the date was from the rest of the events in the movie, I figured at that point we were at the very end) because it didn't really feel like two-and-a-half hours had just gone by.

Yep same with me exactly. I'd put off seeing it for so long (I actually borrowed it once and didnt watch it) because I thought it was CSI style procedural. But instead it was just riveting - even when they were talking about handwriting and fingerprints.

I like how it went from 1969 to the early 80s. Worked really well and didnt seem long at all.