Se7en (1995)

reviewed by
Phineas Narco


                                   SEVEN
                       A film review by Phineas Narco
                        Copyright 1995 Phineas Narco

It's a delicate matter writing a review for this movie because one could say that going into it, the less you know the better, so I'll be tip-toeing around plot points here, in fact I'm not going to say that much about the story except the basics....

Ever since PSYCHO came out in 1960, the insane serial killer maniac has really taken the place of the likes of Frankenstein and Dracula as our favorite boogey man. There have been a TON of movies since then done in this vein, some better than others. All this ... "coverage," both in real life and in fictional movies, has served to desensitize those, to some extent, who have been paying attention to it on a regular basis. Would Norman Bates have caused such a sensation if PSYCHO came out today? Or would he be quickly relegated to the growing ranks of somewhat more or less interesting murderous movie maniacs? Would the world react the same to the Manson murders if they happened in 1995? Hannibal Lecter and his fava beans have become throwaway lines in stand-up comedy routines, or spoofed in movie parodies. In the real world it took Jeffrey Dahmer and his almost unimaginably over the top atrocities to get the public to even sit up and take notice. It is in the midst of this dreary, numbing state of complacency and desensitization to the rising tide of horrors in the modern world that John Doe starts his sermon/reign of terror and SEVEN unveils it's morality play.

Brad Pitt plays Detective David Mills, an idealistic, hyper and impatient newcomer to an over-worked violence ridden city with no name which he begged to be transferred to in the innocent hope of "making a difference." His first week on the job coincides with Detective Somerset's (Morgan Freeman) last week on the job. Somerset is burned out, jaded, cynical, world-weary and despairing of ever making a difference in the world. Enter John Doe, a similarly no- named serial killer who has taken it unto himself to preach to the world through a string of grisly and sickeningly cruel murders, creative as they are destructive ... each murder corresponds to one of the classic seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and wrath.

Let me say that I kind of identify with Freeman's character's position when it comes to horror movies of this sort, I've seen so many of them that they hardly faze me anymore, but SEVEN had me just about climbing onto my seat back many times. Freeman does a great job in a role that requires him to make his character real and sympathetic while at the same time not emoting a whole hell of a lot. He's able to convey in his barely restrained outwardly calm demeanor how much this case is getting under his skin. Pitt is earning more and more of my respect with each role he takes. Unlike the other "Hollywood hunks" which play it safe by taking roles of likable, heroic, handsome, winning, charismatic leading men, Pitt has taken admirable chances since his Calvin Klein pretty boy days of Thelma and Louise and taken such roles as Early Grace in KALIFORNIA which made me sit up and take notice of his acting range. There's a key moment in SEVEN where the camera closes in on his face as it goes through an agonizing second by second vaccilation between extreme rage and profound grief and it's devastating. Pitt's character is out of his element here, full of energy to go out and "do something" but not sure exactly what ... there's a wonderful synergy between this and the by the book, methodical, jaded, quiet and experienced approach of Somerset. The killer wants to make a difference too ... one of the faults of the plot is that as it happens over the course of a few days, it doesn't really allow Mills and Doe (the killer) a chance to develop any kind of relationship ... perhaps they know each other only too well, or think they do. And perhaps this isn't a fault, but an avoidance of cliche 'the-anonymous-killer-over-the-phone' situation ala IN THE LINE OF FIRE. The value of this has been debated in the movie newsgroups but without revealing anything about the ending, just let me say it's not your typical big-battle-on-the-ledge-of-a-building-villain-falls- down-and-gets-impaled-hero-cracks-a-wry-joke-and-walks-off- with-the-girl hollywood type ending. The ending in SEVEN, IMHO, was brilliant, thought-provoking, devastating, certainly talk-provoking and debatable ... perhaps it tips its hat a little early in some places, the "moment of truth" comes during the crisis, at least *I* never really knew for sure. SEVEN's ending left me walking out of the theater wide-eyed, light-headed and shaken. Keep in mind that when it comes to thriller/action movies, it's no small task to surprise audiences of any intelligence at all, which why so many films are rife with cliche's worn out formulas. SEVEN has more than a few compelling twist and turns up its sleeve.

I wanted to say something about the "grisly goriness" that the movie has a growing reputation as having. SEVEN is a dark, disturbing, depressing, nightmare-inspiring ride through a dark world of murder, horror and madness that makes SILENCE OF THE LAMBS look like DUMBO, but it's a thinking man's horror movie and one that was obviously created patience and skill and well-roundedness of the script (whoever wrote it should get an Oscar), acting and what the camera SHOWS. When are horror filmmakers going to realize that the real horror in these types of movies is in what they DON'T show?! (Or at least show very very briefly). You see this demonstrated in movies like PSYCHO where you never see the knife touch flesh or in THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE, PULP FICTION, IN COLD BLOOD, and to an extent HENRY-PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER and JAWS. It's easy for a filmmaker to go for a gross-out gore-ride, just leave the hard-work up to the make-up technician. SEVEN has only ONE act of violence that happens ON CAMERA. The rest are horrifying aftermath murder tableaus that are brilliantly staged but effectively shot in ways that we never get REALLY visually up close to the horror for very long at a time. And it's all the more intensely effective because of this!!

One last thing about the killer. You don't "get" him at a glance, he's an enigma, but an enigma with a purpose. Pitt's character would love to dismiss John Doe as a just some sick psycho. Freeman warns him against this and indeed it's hard to determine where Doe's madness ends and where any kind of rational message begins. That's the question we're left to ponder at the end of this film. I for one still am.

Rating:  10 out of 10
-=-Phineas Narco
   phin@west.darkside.com

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