10 Movies One Mistake Away From Being Masterpieces
6. Zodiac
The Almost Great Movie: David Fincher has an oscillating career. For every masterpiece he pumps out (Se7en, Fight Club, The Social Network) he has to follow it with a good, but nowhere near as great, film (The Game, Panic Room, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo). The one film to buck the trend is Zodiac, the story of Americas biggest unsolved manhunt that spans four decades. With a great cast and magnificent pacing, what stops this movie being a masterpiece you ask?
The Big Mistake: It's not true.
Well, not entirely at least. Zodiac does follow the investigation quite closely, but both the character relationships and the eventual conclusion are both (arguably) very off from the truth. In reality cartoonist Robert Graysmith was never close to reporter Paul Avery, despite Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr.s relationship being central to the first half of the film.
More important, however, is that while the film concludes the killer must have been Arthur Leigh Allen, armchair investigators are hardly sold on the idea. The film is based off Graysmith's book on the subject and therefore some liberties can be allowed, but as the film presents everything as fact it can be a little hard to take.