Review of Se7en (1995) by Theseparator — 30 Dec 2013

If Fincher didn’t invent the convention of the brilliant serial killer always being just one step ahead of the police, he unquestionably perfected it here. This is the twisted psychopath unleashing his vengeance upon the deserving, avaricious world at its absolute best. And this remains Fincher’s best film.

Two cops in New York are hunting a serial killer. The presence of the killer is momentous even before the detectives track him down, once caught, the killer is channeled through Kevin Spacey with a disturbingly authentic evil calm.

Written by Andrew Kevin Walker, this amazing original script that was almost never made. Walker wrote it as an original screenplay around 1991. Apparently he was quite depressed at the time. New Line Cinema bought it, but it took years before it went into production Walker went to work on other projects thinking the script would never be made, but it was. It was released Sept 22, 1995.

By using the seven deadly sins as the basis for justifying the killer’s prerogative, the film’s plot is definitely one of the best around, added to this amped up, excellent performances by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, the production comes off flawlessly, but Seven is so haunting and goes down as one of the best Thrillers of all time because of Fincher’s vision of a hellish New York. This world is poison and Fincher makes it seep.

The grit and grime of the crimes scenes combined with filth of the city streets, alleyways, rooftops, constantly being pounded with rain, darkness engulf even the few happy moments of the film. So much of this film’s beauty is in the compilation. The sets and lighting are so complex that making Seven must have been the result of a finely tuned crew, each member bulked up on their own creative genius. It is how everything, every element aligns perfectly that makes Se7en such a phenomenal filmmaking achievement.