This is the second time I have re-assessed a David Fincher film on re-watch, and on both occasions I have upped the rating. This time I simply couldn't resist it - you just cannot fault the ambition behind a project such as this. Somehow, I missed that when I first watched it. I thought it was too long and too unsatisfying, despite being relentlessly thrilling. And yet now, looking at it again, Fincher's achievement looks even more impressive.

It looks dazzling (it was his first effort of digital, and all of his films shot on digital look gorgeous), but that's just the tip of the surface. It's a procedural in which the maze the characters are trapped in is full of dead ends. The ending is purposefully frustrating (just like with "Memories of Murder") because that's how the people in real life felt as well, even after all the time that had been passed. Nowadays, the case is just an imprint onto history; something that only people who are bothered enough will truly have knowledge about. Watching this movie transports you to San Francisco, putting you in the mindset of Robert Graysmith and Dave Toschi in particular, making you feel just as exasperated as they do.

This ending perhaps was the only ending possible, given the circumstances. It's one good decision in a long list of good decisions by the crew involved in "Zodiac". It's as perfect a thriller as Fincher has ever made, and it has been a bit of a blueprint for the rest of his career so far. The basement scene is reminiscent of THAT scene in his remake of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo", the offices of the San Francisco chronicle resemble the Facebook offices in "The Social Network", it's a procedural much like "Gone Girl", and the film does fit in a large dose of black humour - this is true for almost all of his movies. He is one of, if not the best mainstream director working in Hollywood today, and this is one of his crowning achievements.