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Since David Fincher is one of my favorite directors, I found these columns a perfect opportunity to watch not only one, but two of his movies in a row. This time I am writing about the movie Se7en, the film he made prior to The Game. Another dark and edgy thriller, it is easy to see why most of Fincher’s films are released in the fall (he doesn’t make easy-to-swallow summer flicks).

Even before I watched Se7en, the film won me over by incorporating the number into the title (I can’t help it, I enjoy clever misspellings). Unlike most films I write about, I have actually seen Se7en before, but I was most likely way too young at the time to be watching it. So this time around, I enjoyed the movie even more, not only because I picked up on little nuances (such as all the subtlety Morgan Freeman wonderfully uses in his performance) and bigger things as well (such as the ending).

Set in an unspecified rain-slick city full of urban decay, Se7en stars Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman respectively as the newbie, gung-ho Detective David Mills and the taking it slow, ready for retirement, , Detective Lt. Somerset. The yin-yang detectives immediately find themselves paired up on a gruesome murder case that appears to be the work of a serial killer who is using the seven deadly sins as his motivation.

A fairly straightforward premise, Se7en operates above most detective-thriller films and remains the genre’s benchmark. While I gave a lavish amount of praise to Fincher in the last column, Se7en is the first time he truly showed his talents to the audience after the Alien 3 debacle (Ali3n would’ve been a better title). Allowing the atmosphere to become a character in itself, Fincher only needs to show the aftermath of the killer’s murders for the viewer to feel the gruesomeness that we were spared to witness. Less is more and Fincher certainly knows how to apply that principle.

Hitting the ground running, Se7en’s character development is interwoven between the nasty crime scenes, displayed during the sleuthing interactions. Pitt and Freeman have an excellent balance of young and old, creating the ever-elusive “chemistry.” Impulsive to the point of reckless, Pitt is entertaining to watch in one of my favorite roles of his (besides Fight Club, of course). However, his acting is massively overshadowed by Morgan Freeman’s much more nuanced performance. Almost a mentor to Mills, Freeman is the grounding figure to the film – especially when it comes to the veering third act.

Scripted by Andrew Kevin Walker (who fell off the map after the ‘90s besides a credit for disastrously-delayed The Wolfman), Se7en has an intelligently dark vibe that unfortunately puts shock and stylization over reason and realism. Any famous villain needs a great motive, and Walker hits the jackpot going with the seven sins – ripe for analysis and discussion.

A bit heavy-handed at times when the film is trying to feign meaning in the gore and rolling in self-indulgence when it comes to the religious aspect, luckily Se7en redeems itself by shying away from this territory and instead focusing on the detective’s personal relationships.

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