How’s this for a line-up? A commentary by David Fincher, Jake Gyllenhaal and Robert Downey Jr; an extended cut; interviews and featurettes. Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is – at least until 2008 when the Zodiac: Director’s Cut DVD arrives. In the meantime, anyone who unsuspectingly picks up this not-so-special edition gets a trailer for next year’s disc – a bit like paying to see Paul McCartney in concert and then discovering John Lennon has returned from the dead to do a gig elsewhere…

It’s galling because – Fight Club aside – Zodiac is Fincher’s masterpiece. Sifting the facts of the Zodiac Killer, a serial attacker who terrorised the San Francisco Bay area in the 1970s, this tale of information overload and human obsession plays like All The President’s Men crossed with Se7en. “My movie’s not about aggrandising a mass murderer,” says Fincher in the disc’s only significant extra, the smart This Is Zodiac doc. “I’m interested in all the ancillary people [and] how they picked up and moved on when there was no satisfaction.”

Watching it again reveals how much you missed first time around. The high-def digital camerawork is stunning and there are sublime shots that herald Fincher as one of the most technically accomplished directors alive. Together with the screenplay’s rigorous sophistication, Zodiac cuts the rest of this year’s thrillers down to size.

DVD Extras:

Documentary
Trailers