It was the ultimate cold case. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a serial killer haunted the San Francisco Bay Area, taunting the public with ciphers and letters mailed to regional newspapers. He threatened killing sprees and bombings if the letters were not printed. He was never caught, and his identity remains unknown.
David Fincher’s Zodiac brings us no closer to resolution. Chronicling the years-long efforts of a crime reporter (Robert Downey Jr.), a detective (Mark Ruffalo), and a political cartoonist (Jake Gyllenhaal) to solve the case, it’s as much a study in the all-consuming nature of obsession as it is an oppressive deluge of detail — of codes and ciphers, false leads and partial theories, dead ends and blind alleys. All its forensic evidence accrues and overwhelms, casting the world in shadow without bringing truth to light.
