Review of Se7en (1995) by Nirosh J — 20 May 2015

If nothing else, I feel like everyone has to admit that Se7en has a perfect script. It is brilliantly structured to take you on the same journey with the detectives, always one step behind what John Doe will do next. And, as long as we're admitting the obvious, we also have to talk about David Fincher's amazing direction. The dark look of the film perfectly matches the tone, the shot selection always seems to be spot-on, and he deserves all the praise in the world for fighting the studio to keep the ending as written. While I will avoid spoiling that ending on the off chance someone hasn't seen it, it is a true masterpiece that adds so much weight to the film. I was absolutely stunned the first time I watched Se7en and sat silently in my seat for more than 10 minutes after it ended in total shock. This is a film that people will still be talking about 50 years from now, and it will be spoken of as a classic of our generation. There are few movies like this that can suck me in from the first frame of the film and hold my attention completely for more than 2 hours, even though I already know what's going to happen. There's not a lot of action, but the story is so engaging and every scene is important either for progressing the plot or reinforcing the themes.

Brad Pitt is great as the young detective who is new to town. He has an ego which fits someone who has risen so high already at his age but he also provides most of the, admittedly rare, laughs in the film. Morgan Freeman is the only man I can picture in the role of Somerset. He is totally in his element as he portrays the hyper-intelligent, but frustrated old veteran. He has a tendency to be friendly but also a bit reserved because the city has jaded him so much. Naturally, a film about a serial killer is pretty dark and intense stuff. There's a decent amount of gore and disturbing material that will not sit well with some viewers. While I don't know if it's really a criticism, there are people who will be disgusted by Se7en, so it doesn't have that kind of mass appeal that other masterpieces of cinema have. Even I can't bear to watch it all that often because it's a heavy film, not one you can just throw on and munch on popcorn. Yet I think the mastery of this film is in the restraint that Fincher shows. Many of the most gruesome and awful things in this film are only described rather than seen. However, the details are so specific that our minds fill in the blanks to the point where people who have seen the film will often swear they saw something that was never actually shown on camera. And for those moments when we do see some detail of the murders it is necessary in order to tell the tale and to help us understand the insane passion of John Doe. There are very few movies with a climax as tough to take as Se7en. It almost forces you as a viewer to go through the same thought process as the main characters and wonder what the right thing is to do at that point, and whether we WANT them to do the right thing. As you can see Se7en is a film I could spend hours praising and going into every detail about its genius. If you haven't seen it and you think you can take it, then it would be a sin if you didn't check it out sometime.