Review of Se7en (1995) by Riren — 31 Jan 2007

Seven is one of the more disappointing horror films in a long time. It aims incredibly high in its moral thinking, but the majority of the seven "sin killings" lack any real visceral imagination.

Either they're contrived and impossible, or not really that imaginative to begin with. It's been over sixty years since Freud died, and somebody still thinks a knife strapped to your penis is creative? And so we follow two detectives (Freeman and Pitt, very good actors who try very hard to keep this melodramatic massacre afloat) across various overly art-designed murder scenes.

There is no deep moral thinking behind the murders, so much as there is shock value. These scenes are so contrived that we arrive at most after they are done, to spare us from seeing the director try to suspend our disbelief in depicting them.

Still we march, hoping to catch the killer, pretending this movie will really end with him caught when only three or four of the eponymous seven plots have been carried out. It builds to the point when we finally get to meet the killer and hear his reasoning, which sounds like it could have been written by a jaded teenager.

By this point you've been beaten over the head with so much forced atmosphere and disgusting imagery that you either give in or leave. It's got all the grit, grime and hopelessness post-modern cinema demands, but if you can enjoy it, you may belong on John Doe's list.