From the opening scene which included Donovan’s “Hurdy Gurdy Man,” one of my favorite songs, I knew that I was going to at least somewhat enjoy this. I’ve never been a tremendous fan of David Finchers, even in high school while being exposed to my first films with a sense of “otherness” (I suppose.) I always really liked Se7en though, and I see a lot of positive similarities between it and this film. Both films suck you into an air-tight and unique mystery, as well acted characters are asked to think outside the box to solve it. Both films slowly absorb the viewer into the peculiar game of cat and mouse rather easily. Both films use dreary, dark imagery with a sense of uncertainty and hopelessness attached, only being illuminated by a few beams of light generally coming from ceiling lights, and a few bursts of lush bright coloring here and there. Fincher’s transitions from scene to scene, use of sound and music, delicate camera movement, and editing are his clear strengths as a filmmaker, and they’re skills he’s taken advantage of in both films as well. “Se7en” and “Zodiac” feature two downright perfect soundtracks, and I aside from Donovan I also loved hearing Miles Davis’ “Solar.” Both films also have above average acting from above average actors. The acting delivered from Jake Gyllenhaal and Mark Ruffalo is as good as they’ve ever been, Robert Downey Jr. once again succeeds at playing himself, and there’s a large arrays of extras who also do their job in adding a certain genuineness and authenticity to the picture. Chloe Sevigny even managed to not completely annoy the shit out of me, which I don’t think she’s done since her seminal role in “Kids.” I found the pace consistent and not overly dragged out, even at over two and a half hours. I didn’t particularly care for was the ending. Endings, much like any other aspect of film, is very debatable and how I would have liked to see it play out is irrelevant. Its not nearly as stylistically inspirational, or mentally stimulating as the films made by the greats of the genre, and if you wanted to be picky there is a noticeable emotional detachment from the view and the characters. Overll though, this is a great effort from Fincher, and shows that his calling is not stupid movies about old-man babies, but rather noir influenced crime mysteries and thrillers, similar to the direction which Jean Pierre Melville chose to take in his brilliant career. The pretentious people found it too simple, the people who don’t know what they’re talking about thought it was slow and boring. That’s another way I can tell a movie is for me. 4 stars sounds about right.