Screening Log: Zodiac

One Line Review: Watch it for the acting, but don’t expect a lot of narrative satisfaction.
Lineage: All the President’s Men meets Law and Order and a serial killer of the realistic (aka decidedly not Hannibal Lecter) variety.
Zodiac has pretty much everything going for it except for one critical thing (I can’t imagine this is a spoiler, but stop reading if you are really paranoid): the fact that the real-life crime under the microscope has never been solved.
Mark Ruffalo! One of my favorite actors. Hard to believe this character is the same person that inspired the classic Steve McQueen film Bullitt. The chemistry with Anthony Edwards is good, but the cop-side belongs to Ruffalo.
Gack! All the mind-numbing details of the realistic procedural– on the crime-solving side anyway. I suspect things really aren’t that much better today, though I had to laugh at the discombobulation when they try to figure out who has a “telefax” machine to relay some crucial information.
The last thing the killer says to the woman he picks up– she is holding her infant in her lap– will haunt me in my dreams.
Robert Downey Jr. can play this kind of part in his sleep and yet he still manages to bring the role to life. Downey has some fine work to his name, but oh! what could have been.
I am growing weary of the wide-eyed innocent Jake Gyllenhaal. I prefer the Donnie Darko Jake.