Se7en

SE7EN

Director : David Fincher

Year : 1995

Genre : Thriller

Rating : *****



 

There are some movies by which all others are judged. Science fiction movies are judged by Stanley Kubrick's 1969 epic '2001 : A Space Odyssey', fantasy movies are comparable to 'The Wizard Of Oz' and for me, all thriller films are comparable to David Fincher's 1995 terrifying giallo - inflected 'Se7en', the best movie of the 1990's and in my opinion, one of the greatest motion pictures ever made.  With an all star cast, amazing cinematography and some of the most disturbing scenes ever put to film, 'Se7en' shows the blossoming beginnings of a director who would inevitably change the face of cinema forever.

In 'Se7en', Morgan Freeman plays William Somerset, a small town cop who is 7 days from retirement after decades of serving the force. His methods and meticulousness when solving crimes has made him very unpopular with his colleagues and has in turn made him hate his job. A week before leaving, David Mills (played by Brad Pitt) joins the homicide squad and they are soon slung together when investigating a particularly bizarre murder. While investigating the crime scene, it becomes horribly apparent that the victim was a shut in and had been literally fed to death. Over the next few days, more murders take place and it becomes apparent that the killer is using the seven deadly sins of the Bible as his darkly ironic modus operandi. What ensues is a grisly race to catch the sadistic murderer before he 'completes his masterpiece' and kills seven innocent people.

 

Before rocketing to stardom with 'Se7en', Director David Fincher had cut his teeth in directing with the disappointing sci-fi sequel 'Alien3', which had opened to both poor box office and critical derision. After the failure of his underwhelming debut, Fincher refused to read any scripts for a year and a half - famously claiming that he'd rather die of colon cancer than do another movie. However, after reading the screenplay for 'Se7en', Fincher was lured back into the directors chair, saying that 'Se7en' was a "connect-the-dots movie that delivers about inhumanity. It's psychologically violent. It implies so much, not about why you did but how you did it". The deft (and BAFTA award) screenplay was written by Andrew Kevin Walker who took his primary influence for the look of 'Se7en' from a short time living in Manhattan. According to Walker himself, if he hadn't lived in New York, he probably wouldn't have written 'Se7en'. Cinematographer Darius Khondji worked in cooperation with Fincher on the camerawork and lighting, taking their inspiration from the TV show 'COPS'. Clearly Khondji didn't have the greatest of times in the Big Apple as every building in the city of 'Se7en' seems to be on the edge of dereliction, the rain never stops falling and pollution and crime run wild day and night. Interestingly, the dark and now idiosyncratically depressing mood of the film was actually created in post-production with a chemical process called bleach bypass, a method by which the silver of the celluloid is not removed from the film stock leading to a darker image, emphasising shadow and adding to the maudlin ambience of the picture.

While it may look and indeed sound the part,'Se7en's strongest suit is and always will be it's cast which is unanimously brilliant and believable. As always, the ever-avuncular Morgan Freeman is downright perfect as Somerset; a man who has seen the absolute worst that humans can and will do to each other over the many years of fighting the good fight and this has clearly had an irrevocable effect on him both psychically and psycholigically. He is absolutely desperate to leave the force and retire to a well deserved life of quietude but his undying dedication to his job just won't let him. Freeman's quietude and determination wonderfully contrasts that of Brad Pitt's headstrong and defiant detective Mills who hasn't yet experienced the true evils Somerset has and whose antagonistic personality eventually leads to something resembling a friendship between the two. Alongside these wonderful lead actors, Gwyneth Paltrow plays a small part at Mills' wife, the always reliable R. Lee Ermey has a great deal of fun as the curmudgeonly police captain and, just like the posters, I dare not spoil the identity of the actor who portrays the psychopathic killer John Doe, it's just too good of a surprise to spoil....

Upon it's September 22nd release, 'Se7en' opened to wide critical acclaim and successful box office takings. The late Roger Ebert gave it 3 1/2 stars out of 5 and in 2011, added it to his hallowed Great Movies list. The movie easily surpassed it's $30 million  budget, earning over $327 million. Nominated for an Academy Award for best film editing, a BAFTA for best screenplay for Andrew Kevin Walker. and at the 1996 MTV Movie Awards, 'Se7en' won the gong for best picture. While not gaining a large amount of awards, 'Se7en' would go on to be known as one of the best movies of 1995 and a seminal crime thriller movie. After the success of 'Se7en', David Fincher would go on to make some of the highest regarded films of time; from 'Fight Club' to 'The Social Network', but in my humble opinion, none of his other films have the power or terror of this 1995 masterpiece.

'Se7en' is my second favourite movie of all time. Everything about it is genius; from the casting to cinematography, screenplay to set pieces and to me, there is no other crime movie than depicts the evil of humanity better than 'Se7en'. It is a masterpiece of storytelling and vision and if you love movies, it should be on your essentials list next to 'Jaws', 'Citizen Kane', 'Pans Labyrinth' and 'It's A Wonderful Life'. Yes it may be violent and, at times, extremely disturbing but I fail to think of another thriller that is as terrifying, as vivid and as masterfully made and acted as this one.