David Fincher has made two of my top ten movies of all time (Se7en and Fight Club), so it is fair to say that I’m a Fincher-fanatic. While decidedly less than prolific, Fincher makes up for the lack of quantity in his oeuvre with an undeniable level of quality that, Alien 3 notwithstanding, stands shoulder to shoulder with the best filmmakers of his era. When I’d heard that Fincher would be helming a “true-crime” flick chronicling the reign of terror of the Zodiac killer, I was at once excited and cautiously optimistic; after all, the Zodiac killer has been the subject of a few feature films (two of which were released in 2006), and his exploits have been well-documented, leaving little wiggle room for either creative license or the ability to tell a side of the story that hadn’t yet been told.

Much like 2006’s “The Zodiac”, which focused on the lives of the small town detectives who investigated the case from its infancy, Fincher’s Zodiac shares a similar vision in that much of the film deals with the individuals closest to the case once the Zodiac made his move to San Francisco. Working from the series of books authored by Robert Graysmith, Fincher shows us the reaction to the Zodiac’s killing spree through the eyes of a disparate set of individuals, including Graysmith (Gylenhaal), himself; reporter, Paul Avery (Downey Jr.); and San Francisco detectives, Toschi (Ruffalo) and Armstrong (Edwards), who are all then ultimately drawn together throught Graysmith's obsession with finding out the killer's identity.

The film opens with the first in a series of murders, in which a pair of lovers are ambushed in a parked car. The girl is shot to death, while the boy is left alive to tell the tale. Following the murder, a series of letters are sent to the major newspapers in the area, each featuring a cryptic puzzle, with the request that the puzzle be published or the murderer will strike again. Anyone familiar with the case of the Zodiac knows what follows is a cat and mouse game between the cops and the killer, but Fincher uses the more personal material supplied in Graysmith’s books to add a human face to the still-unsolved case. We watch as Graysmith’s obsession with the Zodiac overtakes his professional and personal life, while Avery nearly loses his in his pursuit of the truth. We also bear witness the mounting frustration of the SFPD detectives assigned to the case as, under public and private scrutiny, Toschi and Anderson find themselves going down one dead end after another, chasing after a killer whose motives and methods seemingly change with every crime, making him either one of the most prolific serial killers of all time, or an opportunistic charlatan who, after his first few kills, sat back and took the credit for any other violent crimes that tickled his fancy.

While the action onscreen is oftentimes quiet and personal, make no mistake, Zodiac is a true crime epic in scope and substance. From its meticulously recreated late-60’s/early-70’s San Francisco streets to its all-encompassing exploration of one of the most notorious crime sprees in modern history, Zodiac is unlike any “true-crime” film you’ve seen, and Fincher’s approach to the subject, while sprinkled with occasionally humorous dialogue and situations (mostly courtesy of Downey’s Avery), is deadly serious. Those expecting the visual fireworks of a typical Fincher film may be disappointed here, as the director reigns himself in to put the focus squarely on the material. That’s not to say that the film doesn’t look good - Zodiac is oozing with atmosphere and eerie elegance – but, in a show of maturity and confidence, Fincher’s usual camera acrobatics aren’t on display here, saving the “oohs” and “ahhs” for the well-honed script’s revelations and theorizations.

An announcement was made back when the vanilla DVD was released that Paramount planned to release a director’s cut of the film in 2008, which was both exciting news and total bummer for the cash-strapped audience members. Still, there is no way fans of this movie can let this 2-Disc Director's Cut slide by, regardless of whether or not they own the feature-less DVD. This new cut (approx. 7 mins of footage added) doesn't really change all that much, but it's the supplements you want this package for, as Paramount has pulled out all the stops, with multiple feature commentary tracks, two feature-length documentaries (one on the making of the film, and the other a fantastic look at the case, itself, with all new interviews with investigators, survivors, and major players), and loads of other great extras. This release is, essentially, three movies, and a load of bonus features, all of which Fincher fans will dissect for hours, if not days. Insane!!!

Personally, I loved Zodiac just as it was, but, if I had to pick one thing I’d have tampered with, it’d probably be the running time, as I felt there was some excess that could definitely be trimmed to have made it an even tauter, more efficient thriller. Strangely enough, the even longer director's cut seemed to fly right by, but, having seen the film a few times already, that could have been due to the fact that I was excitedly looking for the new bits added, although many of them I didn't notice until I watched it with Fincher's commentary.

Fincher fans rejoice; the edition of Zodiac you've been waiting for is finally here, and Paramount has made sure that the package was well worth the wait.