Review of Se7en (1995) by Adam P — 18 Dec 2015

Let me set the scene. Halloween night 2015; trick-or-treaters gone and my parents retired to sleep... Its cold and the darkest shade of black outside... I pop some popcorn and grab my blanket from my bedroom in the back of the house. I head into the living room and put my BLU-RAY copy of Seven into the player. I turn on my father's 65 inch widescreen television (He got it on sale at the Black Friday the year previous to this one) and turn on the sound bar connected to the television. I sit back on the sofa and press play on the film ready for my Halloween finale.

I think David Fincher is a very talented director. I have enjoyed almost every film he has made (that I have seen). I thought The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was excellent and I voiced a similar opinion of Gone Girl and Panic Room. I didn't care for Zodiac but that wasn't because of Fincher in particular. After viewing Seven, I feel it renews my faith in David Fincher as a great director. Seven is smart and equally spooky and its script packs quite a punch (its twisted ending most of all).

Seven is the story of two police detectives, a freshie (Brad Pitt) and a soon to be retiree (Morgan Freeman) who are on the trail of a serial killer who bases his murders off the seven deadly sins.

Each scene pulls you deeper into the mystery as we follow two developed and likable characters down a road of gruesome murder scenes and vague clues. I liked how Fincher portrayed the murder scenes and the lighting during these scenes.

David Fincher directs excellent performances from Morgan Freeman to Brad Pitt to Gwyneth Paltrow to R. Lee Ermey to Kevin Spacey in a small but crucial role late in the film. Pitt and Freeman and Spacey were excellent in their roles and I feel that Spacey's character could've have had a better actor. Freeman seems to add something to this particular performance (something you can tell when watching him speak with Gwyneth Paltrow's character in a particular scene set in a diner) . Pitt demonstrates his acting chops during the ending and it's this one scene in particular hat made me conclude that Pitt had an award worthy performance on display.

I found the script to be sharply written, well paced and full of thrills and chills and character development. You know a script is well written when it ties all the plot points together into a twisted finale. You know a script is sharply written when you can understand and hate a villain with only a handful of scenes. You know a script is sharply written if it is original and smart and filled with good dialogue and that's what the script for Seven is. The final line in the film is the best as it summarizes the story's message "'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for'...I agree with the second part.". That's what sharp writing is.

I think that Gwyneth Paltrow was sidelined too much in the film (as she is in most films). I feel that if Fincher wanted to, he could've cut her almost completely out of the film and it wouldn't have made much of a difference except in the conclusion of the film.

This is a dark, thrilling and well made film by David Fincher featuring appealing performances from Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. A 11/2/15.