ZODIAC

True story crime drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Jake Gyllenhaal: Robert Graysmith, editorial cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle
Robert Downey Jr.: Paul Avery, crime reporter for the same newspaper
Mark Ruffalo: LAPD Detective Dave Toschi
Anthony Edwards: his partner Bill Armstrong
John Carroll Lynch: suspect Arthur Leigh (Lee) Allen
Brian Cox: famous attorney Melvin Belli

REVIEW
Had they edited it down somewhat, this would have been a really great movie. As it stands though, 2 hours and 43 minutes is far too long and requires a great deal of patience to sit through to the very end.

What a shame because it is finely acted with some nice cinematography and several chilling moments.

CLASSIFICATION
for some strong violence, language, drug use and brief sexual images.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY
Although the producers have gone to great length to accurately recreate the ambience of the time (smoking at your workplace, people wearing plastic pocket protectors, IBM computers with huge tape drives, Rolodex files etc) a couple of mistakes got past them:

The calendar posted on one of the pillars in the newsroom changes to match the different time periods except when it gets to be July 1972 and the 1971 calendar is still on display.

When Robert slams down the receiver on the green telephone, the curly wire is draped across the numbers. His wife comes in the room and they talk briefly. When she leaves we can see the wire has been put right although neither of them came near the phone.