Zodiac
Movie, 2007, The 2000s, Set in San Francisco, 1969
Zodiac is #6 of 13 in release order and #6 of 13 in chronological order in the David Fincher.
The story
Police conduct a manhunt for the Zodiac Killer, a serial killer who terrorized the San Francisco Bay Area during the late 1960s and early 1970s, taunting police with letters, bloodstained clothing, and ciphers mailed to newspapers.
Zodiac recap
Zodiac (2007) follows a cartoonist, a reporter and two detectives through years of failing to identify the Zodiac Killer in the San Francisco Bay Area. David Fincher directs from James Vanderbilt's script, based on Robert Graysmith's books. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Graysmith, a political cartoonist at the San Francisco Chronicle who becomes fixated on the coded letters the killer sends to the paper. Robert Downey Jr. plays Paul Avery, the Chronicle's crime reporter, and Mark Ruffalo plays Inspector Dave Toschi, with his partner Bill Armstrong (Anthony Edwards). The killer shoots a couple at a lovers' lane in Vallejo, stabs two people at Lake Berryessa and shoots cabdriver Paul Stine in San Francisco, mailing pieces of Stine's shirt to the paper. Toschi grows convinced the killer is Arthur Leigh Allen (John Carroll Lynch), but handwriting and fingerprints do not match. Avery sinks into drink after Zodiac threatens him. Graysmith keeps digging for years, losing his job and his marriage. It is Fincher's sixth feature, after Panic Room and before The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Zodiac ending explained
Zodiac ends without an arrest. In 1983 Graysmith tracks Arthur Leigh Allen to the hardware store where he works, and the two stare at each other in silence before Graysmith walks out. In 1991 Mike Mageau, the survivor of the first attack, picks Allen out of a photo lineup. Closing text says Allen died of a heart attack in 1992 before he could be charged, that a later DNA test on the letters did not match him, and that the case remains open.
Post-credits scenes
No. Zodiac has no mid- or post-credits scene.
Where to watch Zodiac
Zodiac is streaming on fuboTV, Paramount+, Philo, MGM Plus, and YouTube (free) in the US. You can rent or buy it on Amazon, Apple TV, and Google Play.
Ratings
IMDb 7.7/10, Rotten Tomatoes 90%
Where it fits
- Release order: after Panic Room, before The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
- Chronological order: after Panic Room, before The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
Cast
- Jake Gyllenhaal as Robert Graysmith
- Mark Ruffalo as David Toschi
- Anthony Edwards as William Armstrong
- Robert Downey Jr. as Paul Avery
- Chloë Sevigny as Melanie
- Elias Koteas as Jack Mulanax
- John Carroll Lynch as Arthur Leigh Allen
- Brian Cox as Melvin Belli
- Dermot Mulroney as Martin Lee
- Charles Fleischer as Bob Vaughn
- Zach Grenier as Mel Nicolai
- Philip Baker Hall as Sherwood Morrill
Directed by David Fincher.