David Fincher’s (Fight Club, Seven) returns to the director’s chair after a brief hiatus to present a brilliantly acted but somewhat plodding telling of the strange events surrounding the case of the Zodiac serial killer.

Fincher has managed to amass a terrific cast for the film, and there are no complaints to be made about the performances. Each of the four main characters expresses his obsession, and subsequently loses himself, in different ways. One turns to drinking, another quits the case entirely, another almost loses his family; there can be no winners here, and the actors are all powerful enough to carry the characters’ idiosyncracies as they individually spiral into their states of near neurosis.

Gyllenhaal as Graysmith and Downey, Jr. as the eccentric (does he play them any other way?) Paul Avery are the clear stand outs, as is Ruffalo, who treats the famous Detective Toschi (he has been mimicked in several movies, including Dirty Harry, which is referenced in this film) as a more soft-spoken, intense man who simply wants the case over and done with. Satellite characters are treated with equal respect. Indie favorite Chloe Sevigny makes an appearance as a love interest for Graysmith and even Clea Duvall as a potential informant.

As the case was never officially solved, the mystery surrounding the killings has remained strong even to this day. The ambiguity of the case is kept intact in the film, even going as far as casting multiple people to play Zodiac in each of the attacks. There were literally thousands of suspects, most of which came forward to try and claim notoriety for themselves or to implicate their enemies. The media circus that transpired is certainly part of the case’s lore, and following Graysmith gives us a closer look into what went down at the papers where Zodiac was sending his letters.

My main complaint? The running time. Though I have no doubt this will be a subject of immense debate once the film hits wide release, the almost 3 hours the film runs started to wear thin around the 2 hour mark. To say the film jumps around in time is an understatement; practically every new scene either travels in time a few hours (complete with title cards) or in some cases, years. This ultimately leads to a few false endings where the audience became restless.

I really felt that the first part of the film, where we see Graysmith’s time at the San Francisco Chronicle during the beginning of the event, could have been summed up more quickly. While this quite possibly would have taken away from some of the tremendous performances, it’s a delicate balance between pacing and content, and a better sense of time management might have worked here.

On the other hand, I can see the point being made that the irritation felt and the slow, plodding passage of time is meant to reflect the feelings felt by everyone that was involved in the case. Fincher doesn’t seem to be a director that does things for no reason, and I imagine that something along those lines was intended, on top of the fact that there is explicit attention to detail for a case that is mostly based on hearsay and rumor. Unfortunately, I felt the film dragged a bit because of this, but not enough to kill it completely. It’s still a good mystery and the ultimate reality is handled with an ambivalent hand that reflects the mysterious surroundings of a case that could potentially re-open at a moment’s notice.

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