Zodiac - a killer mystery

This 2007 film about the Californian police's attempts to apprehend a killer know as 'Zodiac' is a tense and frighteningly real portrayal of an enduring mystery.  The mystery of the Zodiac killer - for those who don't know - goes as follows:  In the late 1960s / early 1970s a series of unsolved murders took place in the San Fransisco Bay area of California.  A person calling themselves Zodiac sent letters to the police and newspapers taunting them about the killings, claiming nearly 30 murders over a period of about 6 years.  The police only officially pinned 5 murders on Zodiac, who was never officially identified.

This film follows the story of Robert Graysmith - played by Jake Gyllenhaal - who was a cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle at the time of the murders.  He becomes obsessed by solving them and ends up going to extreme lengths to try to collate and piece together evidence that the police lack the resources to follow up.  He initially works with a reporter at the paper (Robert Downey Jr) and a sympathetic police officer (Mark Ruffalo), but soon his obsession overtakes his life and family. At several points in the film he becomes convinced that a number of different people are zodiac, but though the evidence finally stacks up against one individual it is never more than circumstantial.  As the film skips forwards through the years, we see the case becoming forgotten about, right up to the current time when it remains open and the main suspect dead of natural causes.

It's a fascinating look into the world of crime investigation in the 1960s and 70s, and the story of the Zodiac killer specifically.  The fact that the case was never conclusively solved adds to the mystery and turns what could have been a history lesson into an engrossing 150 minutes.  Jake Gyllenhall plays the reclusive nerd very well, excellent casting here as the cartoonist who loves puzzles and becomes obsessed with the killings.  Similarly Robert Downey Jr plays erratic obsessives quite well, so he is well cast too.

Good source material, historical accuracy, good casting and a well-paced narrative make Zodiac an excellent film.

Right, I'm off to panic-buy stamps...