Se7en (1995) Reviewed by Eugene Novikov http://www.ultimate-movie.com Member: Online Film Critics Society
*** out of four
"Ernest Hemingway once wrote, "The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." I agree with the second part."
Starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey. Rated R.
*NOTE: This review contains SPOILERS
Four years after its release, some fans and critics are putting David Fincher's Se7en at the top of their lists for best/scariest movies of all time. I maintain that its just another serial killer movie, albeit a well-made one. It's certainly unnerving -- gory and sometimes frightening -- but it's also fairly standard, even predictable.
Retiring Detective William Somerset (a stone-faced Morgan Freeman) is given one last assignment: the bizarre murder of a grossly obese man. He is joined by David Mills (Brad Pitt) an inexperienced, young, obscenity- sputtering gumshoe who doesn't seem to know how to do anything other than demand a little respect. After another murder is committed, Somerset and Mills realize that this killer is murdering people that exemplify one of the seven deadly sins (namely gluttony, sloth, greed, lust, envy, wrath or pride).
Seven sins most likely means seven planned murders, so Mills and Somerset are off to try and stop the perverse killer before he does more dirty deeds. Inevitably they fail because more gruesome killings are uncovered, but the killer (a riveting Kevin Spacey) comes to them and wants to lead them to the final two bodies.
David Fincher (Alien 3, The Game) is impressively adept at building tension. This is an exciting movie: suspenseful and intense, with scarcely a hiatus. The way the murders are committed is effectively shocking (although I couldn't help but think that Fincher staged them for shock value alone) and the images linger in your mind long after the movie is over. For pure, unadulterated visceral thrill, there is little beating Se7en.
But if a movie is only as good as its villain then Se7en is kinda "blah". Kevin Spacey does his best to make him frightening but never succeeds in being much more than obnoxious. His "John Doe" is no Hannibal Lecter and thus the revelation of the killer's identity proves anticlimactic.
All the acclaim that Se7en has received borders on undeserved. I liked the movie well enough but I fail to see what people find so extraordinary about it. It's a solid, suspenseful, exciting thriller that entertains mightily, but it has no life message nor is it a particularly meaningful parable about the world we live in. This is one movie where the best thing to do is watch, rather than think. ©1999 Eugene Novikov‰
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