Enough is enough!

Rating: 6/10 (9 March 2008)

Enough is enough! This movie has taken the whole 'serial killer' genre too far! Though a very well made film, I cannot bring myself to label this entertainment, for it is just too sick. Perhaps the whole thing is getting too close to home, but unless these films start taking the responsibility of discouraging, or at the very least educating, then they really will have to stop.
Scripter Kevin Walker and director David Fincher don't bother to send any messages, except perhaps that it is a very bent and warped world that we live in. In closing, Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) suggests that it is indeed not a nice world, but that it is worth fighting for. However we are never told why.
Freeman and Brad Pitt make the most of their roles as two very different detectives pursuing a very disturbed individual, played in truly haunting fashion by Kevin Spacey. I for one though am getting sick of religious nuts. It seems almost every person that is portrayed as having a faith is also naturally mentally unstable. "Chariots of Fire" is the only film I can think of that shows Christianity in a good light, yet the number of religious wackos in the movies is astounding.
Fincher has given his pic a customary dark, wet look (not unlike his "Alien3"), and he has thrown in some very strange, 'rock video' style credits. The cinematography is oft times riveting, and the make-up is particularly stomach churning, with some graphically gruesome murder scenes being recreated. At times it is hard to stay with this long, under-edited film.
Let's see an end to this spate of 'serial killer' films that take no social obligation, or we may find life imitating art.
Friday, February 23, 1996 - Astor Theatre