ZODIAC

Reality in Salsa
By Vishal Verma

Rating:- * * *

What is it?
Based on the true story of a serial killer who terrified the San Francisco Bay area and taunted authorities in four jurisdictions with his ciphers and letters for decades is finely narrated by David Fincher the director of ‘se7en’ and Fight Club’.

Fincher and writer James Vanderbilt's classy film focuses on two men who became obsessed with the case of the Zodiac killer, who taunted the police and played the media from the late 60s onwards in and around San Francisco.

Those who will visit the cinema hall with the expectations of a whodunit affair may be dissappointed with this flick .

But nevertheless, ZODIAC turns out to be grippingly engrosing film of America’s very own Jack the Ripper.

Whats it all about?
Starts off interestingly enough with the Zodiac Killer's first kill. a well-directed chiller of a scene, and it certainly draws you into the story. Hunting down the hunter becomes an obsesuion for four men an obsession that would turn them into ghosts of their former selves, their lives built and destroyed by the killer’s endless trail of clues.

There's cop David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and newspaper cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), whose book on the killer is the source for the film. Toschi was the inspiration behind both Bullitt and Dirty Harry, but here Ruffalo's cop is a genial, resignedly witty chap. Graysmith, meanwhile, is a man whose determination to crack the case drove him to the brink of madness. Cartoonist is the wild card who does not have the expertise of his cynical colleague Paul Avery (Robert Downey Jr.) the san fransisco Chronicle’s star crime reporter and takes over the hunt much to the irritation of the cops and eventually comes to a conclusion but leaves the viever rather high and dry.

What to look out for?
Fine performances by all the lead cast and an interestingly captivating story telling by Fincher.

What Not?
Editing at some places is of low standard. The movie makes you addicted during the process but by the end you feel high and dry. Whodunit wallas may not find it intriguing enough.   

Conclusion: Mark your presence at the nearest cinema if you don’t mind an unsolved mystery, which successfully maintains all the curiosity till the very end.