SNMR 7.7: "Seven"

GREEN'S SPECIAL DELIVERY FOR DETECTIVE DAVID MILLS REVIEW:

Grizzled police detective William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is a week from retiring into the peaceful life. Newcomer to the department, fresh faced detective David Mills (Brad Pitt) can't wait to get into it. Until the grisly murder cases start happening. Now each is obsessed with finding the killer who is murdering people in accordance with the seven deadly sins. Gluttony and Greed are the first. Then come Sloth, Lust and Pride. Who is the killer and why is he doing this? That's what the detectives want to find out. When they catch a break in the case they think they've prevented the last two crimes from being committed. Or have they?

I remembered watching this film only once before, in the late 1990's, long after it came out on videocassette, and didn't remember exactly how it went. I knew the basic plot and realized from director David Fincher's reputation that there were probably going to be some unexpected twists. As the film went on I recalled what they were and braced myself for what I knew would be a grisly ending. (Fincher, in 1997, would direct one of my all time favorite movies, The Game, which was my first exposure to his directorial style.)

Morgan Freeman provides another stellar performance and Brad Pitt is actually really good, too. As you know, Pitt is either hit or miss with me. Gwyneth Paltrow's character, Tracy Mills, could have been filled by any actress. The then relatively unknown Paltrow got the part, I believe, because she was dating Pitt at the time this film was made. The script, written by Andrew Kevin Walker, is tight and suspenseful. Walker himself makes a cameo appearance as the first corpse Somerset discovers. Fincher's direction is dark, disturbing and creepy which is actually perfect for the film. The lighting is dark and subdued and the visual effects are well done. Even the opening credits are disconcerting and the fact that the end credits scroll down the screen instead of up is a wonderfully weird way to end this movie.

I actually watched the two disc special edition of this movie and recommend the extra features included therein.

This genre of movie is generally not my favorite, but it is well done all the way around and is definitely worth revisiting.

****½ out of *****

Seven (1995, R, 127 minutes) starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, R. Lee Ermey and Daniel Zacapa. The film was written by Andrew Kevin Walker and directed by David Fincher.