Director: David Fincher
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr.

Anthony Edwards (left) and Mark Ruffalo in Zodiac. (Courtesy photo)

It’s hard to imagine a movie falling short with as much verve and commitment as Zodiac. In adapting Robert Graysmith’s novel about the serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the 1970s, director David Fincher has one essential problem: the mystery went unsolved. If you weren’t already aware of that, believe me, you’re better off knowing going in. This little wrinkle leaves Fincher and screenwriter James Vanderbilt with a very clear, very challenging mandate: find an alternative conclusion that satisfies. They poke around and try a few insights on for size before settling with something that almost—but not quite—works. Does this sink the film? Not even remotely. As a procedural, Zodiac whips up much of the same driving energy that made All The President’s Men so mesmerizing. At a certain point the details pile on each other so exhaustively that the cast and the audience get lost in the minutiae. Watching Zodiac is like eating most of a delicious meal. It leaves one feeling unsatisfied, but not unfed.

The mystery of the Zodiac killer consumed many people, perhaps none more than the four presented in this telling. San Francisco Chronicle star columnist Paul Avery (Robert Downey, Jr.) hunts for the killer through provocative articles and self-serving “investigative reporting.” Homicide inspectors David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) use the most cutting-edge technology of the era (fingerprint experts, fax machines) to coordinate the investigation with the other boroughs affected. These three men chase the killer for years before they finally throw in the towel. But no one holds out as long as Chronicle cartoonist Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal). Graysmith becomes obsessed with solving the case, and, like Toschi, he seems to get breathlessly close. When others ask Graysmith why he continues his private investigation, he can’t come up with a better answer than that he loves puzzles. The details of the case are a good match for the teetotaling Eagle Scout who works his way through two marriages en route to writing his book about it.

With occasional exceptions, the visual style of Zodiac is not classic Fincher. The caustic, jarring imagery of Seven and Fight Club have been replaced with a softer, more classic palette—somewhere between Streets of San Francisco and Vertigo. The era is recaptured beautifully, even if the characters don’t age much. I don’t need gray hair and fake wrinkles, but don’t most people change their hairstyles over 15 years?

Gyllenhaal takes the mantle of all those file-flipping, “What-if?”-posing procedural investigators, and he eats it up. His Graysmith is so outwardly upright that he doesn’t realize all the tiny ways he isolates himself from others. Ruffalo affects a wispy voice that frustrates at times—you suspect he’d like to yell, but can’t due to an acting choice. But he also makes Toschi, who was the inspiration for Steve McQueen in Bullitt, a disarmingly gentle soul. Downey Jr. turns the showy Paul Avery into a classic Downey Jr. character—a wall of charm and mannerisms erected to keep everyone out. The supporting cast is mostly great, including Chloe Sevigny (Shattered Glass) as a blind date who turns into Graysmith’s second ex-wife. Also good are John Carroll Lynch (Fargo) and Charles Fleischer (Who Framed Roger Rabbit) as two prime suspects. Only Dermot Mulroney (The Family Stone) seems out of place as Toschi’s superior.

There were only five murders that history is certain were committed by the Zodiac, and Fincher shows us all five. They are rough going—not for the level violence, but for the deliberateness of it. But Zodiac is not nearly as grim or dreadful as the trailers would have you think. It’s a complex, compelling story that takes precious few breaths. Fincher and Vanderbuilt aren’t able to convince us that learning the truth about Zodiac is a mission worth committing 15 years too. But it was certainly worth 160 minutes.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, California, and works for the Cartoon Network. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard residents for many years.