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Zodiac
Zodiac Image
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Metascore
78 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 40 Critics What's this?

User Score
7.7 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 207 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Robert Downey Jr.
  • Summary: Based on the actual case files of one of the most intriguing unsolved crimes in the nation's history, Zodiac is a thriller from David Fincher, director of "Seven" and "Fight Club." As a serial killer terrifies the San Francisco Bay Area and taunts police with his ciphers and letters, investigators in four jurisdictions search for the murderer. The case will become an obsession for four men as their lives and careers are built and destroyed by the endless trail of clues. (Paramount Pictures)… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 35 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. Chicago Sun-Times
    Reviewed by: Roger Ebert
    100
    Its most impressive accomplishment is to gather a bewildering labyrinth of facts and suspicions over a period of years, and make the journey through this maze frightening and suspenseful.
  2. TV Guide
    Reviewed by: Maitland McDonagh
    100
    Fincher gets it all right, and Donovan's hippie-dippy "Hurdy Gurdy Man," which bookends the story, has never sounded so hauntingly menacing.
  3. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    50
    Never takes off, but it never collapses. At times, it becomes frustrating -- for example, about 30 minutes are spent pursuing a lead that goes nowhere.

See all 40 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 85 out of 96
  2. Mixed: 5 out of 96
  3. Negative: 6 out of 96
  1. StevenR.
    9
    Excellent film. The atmosphere and attention to detail effectively recreate one of the most interesting and unsolved serial killer cases in U.S. history. Fincher did an excellent job with the story.… Expand
    • 1 of 2 users said yes
  2. RobertR
    5
    It feels more like a Private Eye-tutorial doc than an artsy movie. And that's a compliment, since its comprehensive detail is overly impressive--to the point of a BBC/PBS doc or an Atlantic/Harper's article. Yet its dexterity to tell a compelling and purposeful story is absent--the characters are self-indulged in Zodiac-obsession, the characters only do Zodiac-related talk, things exemplified are too-plot concerned.… Expand
    • 1 of 2 users said yes
  3. EricW.
    2
    As a huge fan of Se7en I couldn't wait to see David Fincher's latest film, Zodiac. After over two and a half hours of the movie I walked out of the theater stunned… stunned at how hugely disappointing it was. I never thought I'd say this about a Fincher movie… but Zodiac is just plain boring. The movie is way, way too long. You just don't care about the characters or about what's going on after a while. Forget about any kind of cool cinematography like you've seen in Se7en, Fightclub or even Panic Room. Zodiac looks like the exact opposite of anything that the director has done before. It seems to be purposely bland. Zodiac seems to purposely want to grind away at you with detail after detail, underplaying events with ultra low key acting & photography. The experience for me was that I had been ground down to not caring anymore about wanting to stay in the theater. I couldn't wait for the movie to end… or for it to peter out with a whimper as it eventually does.… Expand
    • 1 of 2 users said yes

See all 96 User Reviews

Trailers

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