Fincher's first descend into greatness

Rating: 10/10 (7 December 1999)

David Fincher's last three movies have been so individually great and unique, they all speak for their own in different categories. What he does here is take a smart, clever, and grisly script by Andrew Kevin Walker, pull down the shades and throw Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman in a cinematic game that will stand with THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS as the greatest thriller of the 90s.
Set in a city that is almost always gray and wet with rain, this movie does have a depressing feel, but watching this film over and over again, I always feel a bit giddy, as I know that Freeman's Det. Somerset isn't going to retire so easily and that Pitt's rookie Det. Mills is going to get one heck of a first case. They are great together from the start. Neither one has much of a sense of humor, but it's funny how odd of a couple they are. Somerset is patient, intelligent, and raises his voice as much as he reveals a smile. Mills look like a young lion as he jumps into enthusiasm when he works, caring more about action than about research.
The thing (and flaw) about Fincher movies is that there is hardly any women characters in them. Gwyneth Paltrow is very weak in her role as Mills' wife. She is only used for the climax in which the film is going. But the movie is such a distraction from that minor detail, it almost doesn't matter. The best sequence, hands down, is when Mills chases John Doe in his apartment, out of the window, into another building, onto a ledge, and into the murky streets of the nameless city.
One very smart move the movie has is not only revealing the character a good half hour before the movie is over, but giving him a speaking part which portrays him miles high over the usual cliched killers in cliched thrillers. You'll find very new things to watch in this movie, like other Fincher masterpieces THE GAME and FIGHT CLUB.
If the kids in SCREAM wanted more creative psycho killers, they got one, with murders like methodical and detailed puzzle pieces all coming to a wicked conclusion that puts everything in a bad game of jeopardy.