This week’s dandy is “Zodiac” (A-), David Fincher’s engaging film based on the real life serial killer who terrorized San Francisco in the ’60s and ’70s.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays Robert Graysmith (whose book is the basis for this film), an editorial cartoonist who becomes obsessed with the case after his newspaper begins to receive letters and cryptic messages from the killer.

“Zodiac” is a film that really takes its time – several different plot lines are connected to the case – but does a masterful job of showing how these killings didn’t just destroy the lives of the victims and their families, but how the case became a burden to almost everyone involved.

The cast is superb, beginning with Gyllenhaal as the moral compass of the film. Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards are very good as the two detectives working the case, while Robert Downey Jr. fares the best as the crime reporter who turns to booze and drugs to ease the burden of trying to break the story.

But the biggest surprise is Fincher, who shows a side that hasn’t been seen in his previous works. This isn’t a dark and visually flashy piece, like “Fight Club” or ??,” this is more a controlled direction – the film plays out more like an extended episode of “Law and Order” – that perfectly fits the material.

“Zodiac” is rated R for strong killings, language, drug material and brief sexual images and will be available on DVD on Tuesday.

– When he’s not sitting for hours in crowded doctor’s offices, waiting for another examination of his “Madden 2008”-pained thumbs, sportswriter/movie reviewer Micheal Compton can be reached by e-mailing mcompton@bgdailynews.com.