A horrific view of the world of homicide, investigation and morals.

Rating: 9/10 (14 December 2001)

This movie is nothing short of amazing. The more I think about it, the more I believe that I only gave it 9 instead of 10 because I didn't like the ending. And I didn't like the ending, not because it wasn't real or well written, but because it wasn't a happy ending where the good guy "gets" the bad guy.
This movie is incredibly deep and in the mean time, very enjoyable. Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Kevin Spacey and Gweneth Paltrow deliver masterful performances. Paltrow's performance practically ruined the movie for me because she was so convincing.
I would recommend that people own this movie. Even though it has a rap for being gross, most of the gross parts are in the mind of the viewer.
This movie is proof that the most brilliant rendering of horror is that of human imagination. It proves that movie makers who spend millions of dollars making this computer graphics monster to look scary are looking in the wrong place. There is a part where someone is starved to the point where he eats his tongue. This most cruel thought that escaped even the most twisted producers of horror movies is not even depicted. Yet, when it is simply thrown out there, you cannot help the chills that run up your spine.. It is as if you are seeing this horrible act take place.. Each one of us will imagine it in his/her own disgusting and horrific way, yet all of us will have that chill. This is because the writing of the script is so solid, and the delivery of the actors is so strong that you BELIEVE them.
The movie's plot is the story of two homicide detectives, one old and retiring, the other young and new.. Both have contradicting views that represent the old vs new conflict in its generality. The young cop still believes in good, he still believes his job is to "catch the bad guys." The older cop's view has changed over time to just collecting evidence, he has seen too many "bad guys" slip away to still believe that his work actually leads to avenging the murdered victims. One studies the mindset of the murderer, the other studies the evidence and the finger prints. They are truly a pair.
This pair is assigned a daunting task.. That of a serial killer killing through applying the seven sins on people whom he perceives are doing them. For the sin of Gluttony, he would feed an overweight man until he dies.. And so forth. The killer is creative and is unbelievably dedicated and cruel.
The movie is not simply a thriller where you sit on the edge of your seat waiting for the next gruesome murder to unfold, nor is it a trivial action movie where you know the good guy won't be harmed or that the bad guy will be caught.
I would have liked to see the movie end on any different note than the one it ended on, but it's just the harsh reality that the movie wanted to deliver.
In addition to the magnificent tale, the movie deliver several warning bells, such as police personnel in police stations who share info with the press for money. Also, the idea that the FBI having a few "flags" over certain books and people who borrow them or buy them. These are realities of the police world that were never addressed before and are addressed effectively yet in a realistic sense in the movie.