Se7en rates ten !

Rating: 10/10 (10 February 2003)

( Hesitated before committing the 777th comment! Shall make it snappy!) Se7en was shockingly overlooked by the Academy Awards ( but for a Best Editing nomination ). Still it had some of the best assets a film can hope for: devilishly clever and faultless writing by Andrew Kevin Walker, magnificent photography by Darius Khondji which , with the superb settings, created the haunting atmosphere of the film, very good musical score (including an excerpt from a Bach piece aptly included ), and taut and gripping magnificent direction by David Fincher. So the film garnered many other rewards and met with considerable public success. The casting, though uneven, contributed thereto: Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow ( wonderful in "Shakespeare in Love " but otherwise overrated in most films ) are acceptable but have no real alchemy together ; Morgan Freeman is truly excellent, and Kevin Spacey simply superb ( his performance is said to have weighted considerably on his Oscar awarding for "USUAL SUSPECTS "); solid support in small parts is given by seasoned performers : R. Lee Ermey ( police captain ), Richard Roundtree ( D.A. ), Michael Massey ( man in massage parlour booth ), and Richard Schiff ( John Doe's lawyer ); while John C. McGinley' s acting talents are just wasted; as to Charles Dutton, I just did not see him. A discovery ( at least for me ) : Leland Orser as the nerve-wrecked customer of the dead hooker, remarkably convincing in a most difficult if short part, and who now has consistent roles in good movies.