Se7en

Se7en came out at a unique time in my life. I was a senior in high school when it hit the theaters, and at the time I was just discovering philosophy. When I heard that Se7en took some of its premise from old philosophical thought, particularly as it applied to ancient religious teachings, I was intrigued more and more. And when I finally got around to seeing it, I wasn't at all disappointed. Let me state right up front, Se7en is not a feel-good film—not by any stretch of the imagination. It is, however, an incredibly brilliant and original conception that was executed just as brilliantly.

The story is pretty basic: a serial killer is roaming this rainy, unnamed city (which could pass as either L.A. or New York), committing murders that are based on the seven deadly sins. The first body found is an incredibly overweight man who was discovered with his face in a plate of spaghetti. The autopsy revealed that he ate and ate and ate until his internal digestive organs started to rip open (he stopped just short of eating until he burst), and written behind the refrigerator was the word "gluttony". Assigned to the case is veteran detective William Somerset, as played by the ever-wonderful Morgan Freeman, in what is essentially a major straight-man role. Complementing his seriousness is young hotshot detective David Mills, played by Brad Pitt.

Pitt and Freeman fill their respective roles remarkably well. Freeman's Somerset is disciplined and wise beyond his years (even though he's only days away from his retirement), and Pitt's Mills is a man who does his job well but feeds off his emotions far more than he should—and, as the film proves, at the worst possible times too. Gwyneth Paltrow makes a cameo as the conflicted yet loving wife of David Mills. R. Lee Ermey fills the shoes of the police captain overseeing the investigation. Even John C. McGinley makes an appearance, though he's hard to spot a lot of times. He plays the SWAT team leader, California, and half the time he's directing the activity of the SWAT team, so he doesn't stand still long enough for anyone to notice, "Hey, that's John McGinley!"

Constant darkness pervades the entire film. Taking place during the course of one week, it rains for damn near the entire time, with the sun shining through only on the last day. And many of the sequences take place in the darker and seedier sections of town. For example, the basement of the nightclub where the "lust" victim was found, or even John Doe's apartment building. At the same time, though, some scenes were filmed with such beauty that you can't take your eyes away from the screen. The nighttime montage of Somerset researching in the library and Mills reviewing the case reports, all to the tune of Bach's beautiful Orchestral Suite No. 3, is simply divine.

But going back to what I said at the start, Se7en is anything but a feel-good film. In fact, it's quite disturbing in many spots. You can literally pinpoint the moment where the movie jumps into its deeply disturbing mode: during the discovery of the "sloth" victim. When he starts to croak and convulse on his bed, I still want to cringe now matter how many times I see it.

The action in Se7en is done very well. Mills's long chase of John Doe from his apartment down into the street was one of the best foot chases I've seen, second only to those in the recently-released Casino Royale. What makes this chase scene so good, though, is the camera work and the editing. The bouncing camera effect was debated by many in The Bourne Supremacy, but here in Se7en, it fully succeeded in transporting you right into the action, making the viewer a part of the chase. And I especially loved how the rain was utilized during this chase—how it was filmed from the downward angle when Mills climbs down the fire stairs, or when Doe has the gun pressed up against Mills's head in the alley.



John Doe's entrance onto the scene is quite remarkable, though at the same time unsettling. He literally walks into the police station, covered in blood, and for all intents and purposes announces, "Here I am!"

Se7en was released in 1995; this was the same year that Kevin Spacey won an Oscar for The Usual Suspects. In my opinion, his Oscar should have been for this movie, because even though he was good in The Usual Suspects, his intense performance as John Doe was spectacular, one of his finest performances ever. His portrayal of John Doe, as a man whose beliefs penetrate down to the very core of his being, gives me the chills every time I see it. What really stands out, I think, is his impassioned monologue to Brad Pitt about "innocent people", about how all his victims deserved to die because of how great their sins were, and how sin exists everywhere around us . . . and is tolerated and dismissed by the common man. If this kind of rhetoric had come from anyone else, it would be dismissed as the ravings of a crazy man. But in Kevin Spacey's expert hands, his speech actually makes frightening sense! And when you sit down to actually think about it, what does this say about our society when we tolerate and dismiss every terrible thing (what John Doe would consider sin) that happens around us?

And the ending of the movie, while nevertheless terribly disturbing, is downright brilliant in its conception! Though I would have changed one thing to make the circle more complete: after Mills shoots John Doe and turns him into the "envy" victim, Mills in his grief should have turned the gun onto himself, thus making himself the actual "wrath" victim. By dying, he would have become the seventh victim, thereby completing John Doe's quest to turn each sin against seven individual sinners.

10 out of 10. So many things came together perfectly in this film: writing, direction, casting, acting, cinematography . . . originality! Despite the uneasiness and fright factor at play in Se7en, the thinking element to the film draws me back to it again and again.