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Zodiac (2007)

tomatometer

89

Average Rating: 7.6/10
Reviews Counted: 230
Fresh: 205 | Rotten: 25

A quiet, dialogue-driven thriller that delivers with scene after scene of gut-wrenching anxiety. David Fincher also spends more time illustrating nuances of his characters and recreating the mood of the 70s than he does on gory details of murder.

82

Average Rating: 7/10
Critic Reviews: 49
Fresh: 40 | Rotten: 9

A quiet, dialogue-driven thriller that delivers with scene after scene of gut-wrenching anxiety. David Fincher also spends more time illustrating nuances of his characters and recreating the mood of the 70s than he does on gory details of murder.

audience

73

liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 451,645

My Rating

Movie Info

The true story behind the murders that many crime scholars believe to be the most perplexing series of unsolved crimes in modern history comes to the screen in chilling detail as Fight Club and Seven director David Fincher steps behind the camera to tell the mysterious tale of the infamous Zodiac killer. A relentless serial killer is stalking the streets of the San Francisco Bay Area, leaving citizens locked into a constant state of panic, and baffled authorities scrambling for clues. Though the

R, 2 hr. 36 min.

Mystery & Suspense

James Vanderbilt

Jul 24, 2007

$33.0M

Paramount Pictures

Cast

All Critics (230) | Top Critics (49) | Fresh (222) | Rotten (26) | DVD (50)

There are no tidy, last-minute plot twists to make you feel good in Fincher's Zodiac, just focus -- to keep an audience focused -- and the most disciplined filmmaking you've seen in forever.

October 18, 2008 Full Review Source: NPR.org | Comment
NPR.org
Top Critic IconTop Critic

[W]here Se7en, with its stygian gloom and theatrical executions, inflated the serial killer genre to gothic proportions, Zodiac lets the air back out. It is methodical rather than macabre, clinical rather than cruel.

September 18, 2008 Full Review Source: New Republic | Comment
New Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Fincher, more subdued ... and aching for a return to smart suspense films from the likes of Sidney Lumet and Alan J. Pakula, pulls us by the collar into the frame and cranks the sense of menace taut without cheap tricks or cop-out gimmicks.

January 8, 2008 Full Review Source: Film.com | Comment
Film.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Gyllenhaal always manages to present a person of some sensitivity without leaning on actorish resources.

October 18, 2007 Comment
New Republic
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I think this is a great film.

October 15, 2007 Comment (1)
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Any honest neurotic could probably tell you: the emotional payoff of an obsession is not attaining some longed-for goal -- it's the obsession itself, which fulfills certain needs.

March 12, 2007 Full Review Source: New Yorker | Comment
New Yorker
Top Critic IconTop Critic

A complex crime drama that limits its action, opting to save it for the times that bring the greatest impact.

December 23, 2010 Full Review Source: Movie Views | Comment

So insistent, and successful, is David Fincher at duplicating real-life hypervigilance that you may try writing a "k" in two, not three, strokes to see the difference - damning and admiring how this indisputable masterpiece drags you down the rabbit hole.

December 15, 2010 Full Review Source: Suite101.com | Comment
Suite101.com

Zodiac is a great film that many true crime buffs would love due to the treatment given to the subject, and that many movie fans will admire thanks to David Fincher's direction and the performances of its cast.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Matt's Movie Reviews | Comment
Matt's Movie Reviews

Ultimately the lack of tautness in the storytelling, seemingly stemming from a desire to be as faithful as possible to Graysmith's book, costs the film dearly.

July 6, 2010 Full Review Source: Digital Spy | Comment
Digital Spy

An enthrallingly unsatisfactory film, worth watching and deciphering

August 27, 2009 Full Review Source: CinePassion | Comment
CinePassion

Zodiac is a marvel of moody photography, as it tries to capture the funereal pall hanging over a metropolitan city in the grip of fear.

March 10, 2009 Full Review Source: Cinefantastique | Comment
Cinefantastique

Although the film is a good police procedural that moves methodically through the available clues, its strong suit is its characterizations. (Blu-ray Edition)

January 21, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

...an effective reenactment of some chilling real-life events.

January 21, 2009 Full Review Source: Movie Metropolis | Comment
Movie Metropolis

Zodiac does a great job of showing three different paths (reporter, cop, cartoonist) in trying to capture a serial killer.

September 4, 2008 Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | Comment
The Scorecard Review

Notorious case inspires dark, sinuous thriller.

July 16, 2008 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media | Comment
Common Sense Media

Zodiac has us ponder the frustrations of a case that won't close up tightly like your weekly CSI.

June 21, 2008 Full Review Source: Film Threat | Comment
Film Threat

Gone are the emphatic jumps and the flying-camera-through-the-keyhole style of "Panic Room". By avoiding the superficial scares he ends up creating a more devastating dread

April 16, 2008 Full Review Source: PopMatters | Comment
PopMatters

It is not its lack of resolution that makes Zodiac a poor film, it is its stupefying dull progression.

February 28, 2008 Full Review Source: BrandonFibbs.com | Comments (17)
BrandonFibbs.com

An all-star cast delivers in David Fincher's look into the investigation around one of history's great unsolved serial killer cases.

February 2, 2008 Full Review Source: Oscar Guy | Comment
Oscar Guy

What makes this movie special is that really, not much happens. ,yet it's insanely gripping, even if someone is explaining discovery or flipping through a file.

January 10, 2008 Full Review Source: Cinerina | Comment
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for Zodiac

I stayed up REAL late watching the DVD and I almost never do that. Couldn't turn it off. In the end, sure, a bit of a shaggy dog story but I didn't mind.Quibble - they might have explained the Melvin Belli character a bit more. I got that he was some celebrity lawyer but I didn't think it was set up well.

April 2, 2007
brooklynspo

Super Reviewer

Telling the story of a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco bay area in the late 60s and early 70s,The narrative switches between the frustrated detectives that seem to hit a dead end every time they uncover a promising suspect and the obsessive-compulsive journalist who cannot allow himself to let the

March 17, 2007
garyX
xGary Xx

Super Reviewer

    1. Robert Graysmith: Just because you can't prove it, doesn't mean it's not true.
    – Submitted by Nusfish K (4 days ago)
    1. Robert Graysmith: He made a mistake. It's Arthur Leigh Allen!
    – Submitted by Sathya S (8 months ago)
    1. Paul Avery: Methinks our friend's a tad bit fuckered in the head.
    – Submitted by Chris P (10 months ago)
    1. Arthur Leigh Allen: I am not the Zodiac. And if I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you.
    – Submitted by Chris P (10 months ago)

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