David Fincher delivers a dark and in-depth exploration of the Zodiac Killer investigation, and he does it with his usual style and powerhouse actors. Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., and Mark Ruffalo star as a reporter, a cartoonist, and a cop, respectively, all of whom were involved in the investigation.

Fincher recreates the horrific killings and terrifying encounters with Zodiac. When Zodiac has letters delivered to police offices and newspapers, including the San Francisco Chronicle, Robert Graysmith (Gyllenhaal) gets drawn into the research and investigation into who the Zodiac Killer is.

From the years of 1968 to 1983, Graysmith dug in and explored all avenues, even as it broke one of his Chronicle colleagues, Avery (Downey).

Fincher delivers a tight, brilliantly engaging film that rips with dread as the film circles actual events and attempts to bring to light the possible truth.

Fincher’s production design brings the 70s and 80s to life, and he grounds everything in realism. It’s tightly edited, and even at two and a half hours, the film flies along.

Gyllenhaal is fantastic throughout as he becomes more and more obsessed with the case. And speaking of acting, let’s take a moment here and just marvel at Downey’s acting style; he makes everything seem effortless and has a way of delivery that makes everything sound natural, and even improved.

The film also features turns by Anthony Edwards, Brian Cox, Chloe Sevigny, Donal Logue, Dermot Mulroney, and Elias Koteas. There’s also an incredibly unnerving scene with Charles Fleischer.

It’s a dark, moody film that shows the cost of obsession and the brutality of man, and it does it in an edge-of-your-seat, white-knuckled way. It’s masterfully done, and leaves me wondering if this is possibly Fincher’s crowning achievement.

Then you look at his other films and ask the same question.

The cast is outstanding; it explores and documents as much as it can within its runtime, and still leaves lots of questions by the film’s end. I love a story like that, especially when it’s based on real events.

I hadn’t seen this one since it came out, and while I’ve seen doc series about Zodiac and knew the murder scenes before they happened, the way Fincher’s film lays everything out, and all the little things Graysmith investigates, really gives it a more immediate and unnerving feel. Even if it took place all the way back in the 70s.

I think, at least until I revisit another Fincher film, this one may be my favourite. Everything works, and it is brilliantly put together.