The most viscerally frightening and disturbing homicidal maniac picture since The Silence of the Lambs, Seven is based on an idea that's both gruesome and ingenious. A serial killer forces each of his victims to die by acting out one of the seven deadly sins. The murder scene is then artfully arranged into a grotesque tableau, a graphic illustration of each mortal vice. From the jittery opening credits to the horrifying (and seemingly inescapable) concluding twist, director David Fincher immerses us in a murky urban twilight where everything seems to be rotting, rusting,... or moulding; the air is cold and heavy with dread. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are the detectives who skillfully track down the killer--all the while unaware that he has been closing in on them, as well. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey are also featured, but it is director Fincher and the ominous, overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere of doom that he creates that are the real stars of the film. It's a terrific date movie--for vampires. --Jim Emerson [show more]
David Fincher's 'Seven' is a much more influential film than most people realise. Itself influenced by the earlier 'Silence of the Lambs', it takes a bolder step at artistic and production design (by Arthur Max), as well as atmosphere.
Most serial killer films from before and after 'Seven' don't usually have replay value, but Fincher's vigorous editing style, dark atmosphere, artistic and appealing gruesomeness, grungy look, and sense of pace (acquired in his days as video-clip director) give this film extra value.
The story is solid and it keeps you hooked, wondering what is happening and why the killings are taking place. The performances of Freeman (as a world weary cop who's about to retire) and Pitt (as his young and cocky replacement) are excellent and carry the audience through the story. But people keep coming back to 'Seven' over and over again because of how this story is told in visual terms. The fact that they find what they see appealing (due to pace, design, etc), renders their knowledge of the resolution of the film's mistery irrelevant, something that doesn't usually happen with films of this sort.
From 'Seven' onwards, cop films, and TV shows in particular, never looked quite the same. Its influence can be seen from the darker look the X-files had after its release, to the incredibly dark and sometimes erie offices in CSI:Las Vegas or the sets in Criminal Minds.
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Homicide detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) has just seven days left to retirement when he is paired with his brash replacement David Mills (Brad Pitt). The pair investigate the murder of a man who has been force-fed until he burst, then that of a rich lawyer made to cut a pound of flesh from his own body and consequently bled to death. The fact that the word 'greed' is written in blood on the carpet leads Somerset to speculate that they are dealing with a serial killer who is using the seven deadly sins as a blueprint.
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