Trust Stephen Hunter

to cut to the heart of the matter:

'Zodiac': A Sideways Look At the Pursuit of a Killer

"Zodiac" gets in trouble even before the title -- on its poster! It stumbles, though it tells the truth, with a marketing slogan that reads "There's More Than One Way to Lose Your Life to a Killer."

Actually, there's not. The only way that counts and the only way that's interesting is the old way, which is getting killed by the killer. Everything else is bull and spare change.

And 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. It's about a young man named Robert Graysmith (Jake Gyllenhaal), who becomes so obsessed with it he gives up career and family time to pursue endless arcana. For his effort, he's rewarded with a -- nervous breakdown? A descent into hell? A face-to-face with pure evil itself? Er, no. His reward is a couple of bestsellers and a new life as a successful and widely admired crime writer, plus the movie deal that resulted in this very film. A new way to "lose your life to a killer"? It sounds more like a shattering thriller about a good career move!