The Buzz: Zodiac Is Absorbing, But Long

Director: David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en)Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards, Robert Downey Jr., Brian Cox, John Carroll Lynch, Chloë Sevigny, and Ed SetrakianRunning Time: 156 minutesMPAA Rating: R for some strong killings, language, drug material and brief sexual imagesBuzz Rating:

The Good:

"Zodiac may be the perfect meeting of filmmaker and subject ­– an obsessive's portrait of obsession that is, finally, a monument to irresolution."

"Firing on all cylinders as a creepy thriller, police procedural and "All the President's Men"-style investigative newsroom drama, the smart, extremely vivid production oozes period authenticity."

"An absorbing and fulfilling experience — even though it ends with a question mark."

The Bad:

"That's exactly the problem with this movie: It's not about a killer, or his victims, or the manhunt or the cops. They're all in it, of course, more or less. But it's about a writer."

"At 2 1/2 hours, the film is too long in the telling and too short on suspense."

"Without a persuasive ending, Zodiac is an exercise in frustration if not futility."