DVD of the Week: Zodiac

David Fincher's latest, and I think greatest, film Zodiac could easily be filed away as one of 2007's first lost treasures (with many more to follow). It's box office reception upon opening in March was nearly arctic when compared with the major hauls of previous Fincher thrillers such as Seven and Panic Room and reviews for the film were deeply polarized. Alas, the same could be said of public opinion with many bemoaning the 156 minute run time of this serial killer procedural and crying out for the old school Fincher flair that's been washed clean from his palate this time around. Straying far from the quick-cutting, pop art nihilism of previous films like Fight Club, Zodiac is an assured and brilliantly unraveling mystery that demonstrates Fincher's genius for making straightforward feature films in a way his manic and neurotic earlier features had not indicated. This is a crisp and not at all overlong film that addresses the investigation into the infamous 1970s "Zodiac Killer" with a high quantity of obsessive detail and a rivetingly banal visual style. Here Fincher makes the mundane and pedestrian elements of life singe with nervousness of what they may hold. It's one of the most intense and seemingly unexaggerated accounts of a serial killer pursuit as I've ever seen with no shortage of chills and fascinatingly simple tricks and clues. It's a fine example of how sometimes real life can truly be stranger than fiction. Jake Gyllenhaal, Robert Downey Jr., Chloe Sevigny, and Mark Ruffalo star.