Zodiac

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is also much more grey and slow-paced. Which is one way of looking at Zodiac, an almost three-hour film about an actual serial killer who terrorised the San Francisco Bay area in the late 8217;60s and 8217;70s and was never brought to justice, as compared to Se7en 8212; Fincher8217;s last serial-killer film that was as slick and fast as it was bloody and ended with a shocker to the pit of the stomach.

But you can8217;t help wondering if this isn8217;t Fincher trying to make a film about a serial killer as different as possible from Se7en, even if based on a book that detailed a 22-year investigation and how it affected the lives of those involved in the case. For long stretches, the film seems to meander on without any purpose except to perhaps be faithful to the book of Robert Graysmith one of those people who got dragged into the killings, here played by Gyllenhaal and to the new vision of Fincher.

In reality, the Zodiac killer was never caught and it remains an open case. But the film, in keeping with Graysmith8217;s book, narrows down the search to one of the suspects.

Graysmith is a cartoonist at San Francisco Chronicle, the paper which Zodiac the killer seems to prefer. The first letter by Zodiac to the paper arrives as an encrypted note, with the killer boasting of having already committed at least three murders and threatening many more. Over the years, even as police led by Inspector David Toschi Ruffalo struggle to catch him, Zodiac lays claim to many other murders, some falsely.

As the tag of the film makes it clear 8212; 8216;There8217;s more than one way to lose your life to a killer8217; 8212; Zodiac is not about the hunted as much as the hunters. In that sense, Zodiac is similar to Se7en. Apart from Graysmith and Toschi, that includes Chronicle8217;s crime reporter Paul Avery Downey Jr, who throws away his career to drinking as he becomes obsessed with the case.

However, in trying to do justice to that central plot, screenwriter James Vanderbilt loses the thread. For a long time in the middle, the young Graysmith 8212; who isn8217;t really taken very seriously by the paper8217;s gentry, especially as he is just a 8220;cartoonist8221; 8212; just disappears.

The point about fingerprints and handwriting samples matching is reiterated to the extent that one of the experts in the case, saying the same thing at every meeting, actually gets more screen time than Graysmith8217;s neglected family. Come to think of it, even three books that Graysmith lugs around in his briefcase all day should get a starring mention considering the number of times he waves them around to prove his point.

Meanwhile, with little happening between the actors by way of tension or action, the audience can8217;t be blamed for losing interest. Even the impressive star cast looks like a slap in our face, including the talented Sevigny Boys Don8217;t Cry, hidden behind giant glasses as Graysmith8217;s suffering wife.

Gyllenhaal looks lost, carrying around the same wide-eyed expression, showing none of the surefootedness he displayed in the much more complex Brokeback Mountain. While you miss Downey Jr after his small but effective part, it is Ruffalo who more than makes up for it by getting across the frustration of an honest officer trying to do his job right.

In the end, we keep expecting Zodiac the film to be more than what it is about. Ironically, that8217;s perhaps the only thing that can also be definitely said of Zodiac the killer.

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