ZodiacMovie Reviews

Poster art for "Zodiac."

Gifts + Promos

The Vow Free Gift

Buy tickets & receive a FREE 3-Month Love Forecast from Astrology.com!

Fandango Bucks

Send your sweetheart the gift of movies this Valentine’s Day!

Journey Sweeps

Enter for a chance to win a trip for 2 to Nicaragua!

Interactive Oscar Ballot

Who's taking home the Oscar? Cast your vote & challenge your friends on Facebook!

Need Help?
Go
Avg. Critic Score: 78 out of 100 Generally favorable reviews Metascore® based on all critic reviews
Information for Parents:
17 Iffy for 17+
Read Common Sense Media review

Critic scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more favorable reviews.

  • 100
    Entertainment Weekly | Owen Gleiberman

    Zodiac never veers from its stoically gripping, police-blotter tone, yet it begins to take on the quality of a dream. Read full review

  • 100
    Chicago Sun-Times | Roger Ebert

    Its most impressive accomplishment is to gather a bewildering labyrinth of facts and suspicions over a period of years, and make the journey through this maze frightening and suspenseful. Read full review

  • 90
    The Hollywood Reporter | Michael Rechtshaffen

    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. Read full review

  • 90
    Variety | Todd McCarthy

    Conveying an astonishing array of information across a long narrative arc while still maintaining dramatic rhythm and tension, this adaptation of Robert Graysmith's bestseller reps by far director David Fincher's most mature and accomplished work. Read full review

  • 90
    The New York Times | Manohla Dargis

    Rarely has a film with so much blood on its hands seemed so insistently alive. Read full review

  • 88
    Rolling Stone | Peter Travers

    Unique and unmissable. Read full review

  • 88
    USA Today | Claudia Puig

    This is the rare movie that blends long scenes of meticulous research with a sweeping story and sustains a feeling of riveting suspense. Zodiac grips you by the throat and doesn't let go. Read full review

  • 70
    Los Angeles Times | Kevin Crust

    Zodiac is primarily a complex character study, despite the film's grim and gruesome subject matter. It's a role reversal of sorts for a director who normally emphasizes the brutal tension in his movies. Read full review

  • 50
    Washington Post | Stephen Hunter

    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. Read full review

  • 50
    San Francisco Chronicle | Mick LaSalle

    Never takes off, but it never collapses. At times, it becomes frustrating -- for example, about 30 minutes are spent pursuing a lead that goes nowhere. Read full review

View more reviews for Zodiac on Metacritic

Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 17+ Notorious case inspires dark, sinuous thriller.
What Parents Need to Know Parents need to know that this three-hour movie about the investigation into a string of real-life serial murders during the early 1970s is too violent and disturbing for most teens (and probably even some adults). While some violence takes place off screen, what does appear is brutal and bloody: The Zodiac shoots a couple in their car, stabs another couple in the back (the victims' pained, horrified faces are shown both times), and shoots a cabbie. Police officers and reporters discuss the deaths in some detail. Characters drink heavily and smoke frequently (one also uses hard drugs). References are made to the killer's "latent homosexuality" and a suspect's pedophilia. Language includes repeated uses of "f--k."
  • Families can talk about the media's relationship with serial killers. How do the killers use the media to gain attention? How do the media use the killers to gain ratings? How do viewers and readers respond to such coverage? Think about how movies portray killers and their pursuers: Unlike The Silence of the Lambs, this movie focuses on the investigation, with very little information about the killer. How does that affect the film's narrative and displays of violence? Is violence more effective when it's shown, or when it's implied? Why?
The good stuff
  • message true0 Positive messages: Serial killer is cruel and plainly deranged; cops and reporters argue amongst themselves and become obsessed with the case to the point of ruining their home lives. Paul gives his editor the finger.
What to watch for
  • violence false5 Violence: Extremely bloody crime scenes; violence includes shooting, stabbing (especially brutal), fighting; much discussion of means of murder, ammunition, and gun types; letters from killer describe plans to kill children on school buses (a boy hears this on TV and looks worried); mention of gas chamber; woman in prison appears with dark bruises on her arm; scary scene in basement when Robert thinks he's met the killer by accident (jump shot, dark shadows, tense music); discussion of a suspect's deviant history ("touching kids").
  • sex false0 Sex: Suggestion of sexual desire as first victims "park" (they're shot before they even kiss); Paul reports that the killer is a "latent homosexual."
  • language false5 Language: Repeated profanity, especially "f--k," as well as "s--t," "hell," "goddamn it," and other colorful language ("Sweet mother of Christ," "Jesus on crutches," "Tell him to screw," "crap," "getting your rocks off with a girl") and name-calling ("shorty" and "retard").
  • consumerism false3 Consumerism: Some references by name (Folgers, the movie Bullitt), plus background imagery (Coca-Cola and Campbell's soup in vending machines, Slinky on TV); Dirty Harry on movie screen.
  • drugsalcoholtobacco false5 Drinking, drugs and smoking: Drinking to drunkenness in bars (Paul and Robert favor blue drinks called "Aqua Velvas"); more drinking at Belli's Christmas party (he offers a "toddy"); frequent cigarette smoking; Paul looks high/wasted at work -- he snorts cocaine and keeps a full bar and other drugs in his home.
An independent nonprofit dedicated to providing families the information they need to help kids thrive in a world of media and technology. © Common Sense Media Inc. 2010. All rights reserved.

Looking for more reviews? Movies.com Critics Say:

Dave White

5.0

Dave White Profile See Dave White's Profile

… densely packed, exhaustingly detailed … Read full review See Dave White's on MOVIENAME on Movies.com

Read more movie reviews at Movies.com

Zodiac Featured Trailers + Video Clips

Facebook Movie Fans

Fan Fandango on Facebook