The most impressive feat of David Fincher’s Zodiac is not simply how he’s managed to sift through and mold the mountain of facts from Robert Graysmith’s tome into an enthralling piece of true crime cinema, but also the manner he’s pared down his signature visual flash to distill the human and psychological intricacies of the case. Fincher’s detail-obsessed perfectionism has found a kindred spirit in the puzzle-deciphering Graysmith (played here by Jake Gyllenhaal), the editorial cartoonist of the San Francisco Chronicle who picked up the pieces when the cops left the case hanging. The first half follows homicide cops David Toschi (Mark Ruffalo) and Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards) traversing various counties to investigate, while Chronicle journalist Paul Lavery (Robert Downey Jr. in show-stealing mode) reports the crimes; the second half is mostly Graysmith’s show and the solo detective work that consumes him to the detriment of his family life. Methodical, atmospheric and surgically precise, Zodiac is the the definitive film on the infamous serial killer, de-emphasising the sensational aspect of the murders to acknowledge something more disturbing: how the killer’s cruelly inconclusive legacy continues to haunt our minds like a nightmare that won't go away.