"You brought me closer to God"

Rating: 8/10 (20 September 2016)

Ladies and Gentleman, Kevin Spacey does it again. 1995 must have been quite his year with the release of Usual Suspects and Sev7en just months apart. Not only does Spacey captivate his audience in both films with stellar performances (winning an Academy Award for Best Supporting Role in Usual Suspects and the MTV movie award for Best Villain in Sev7en) but his characters starkly contrast themselves with their "end game" motivations.
David Fincher creates a masterpiece with Sev7en. Not only does he manage to captivate his audience, keeping them in the dark, on the hunt, with Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman), but he manages to simultaneously repulse them with disturbing gore that they can't quite look away from. His scenes are dark, often limited to the use of a detectives' flashlight, reinforcing the feeling of powerlessness within the viewer. The audience only gets to see what the detectives reveal, and like the detectives, we are never given the full picture. Detective Miller (Brad Pitt) serves as the foil for Detective Somerset. Throughout the film Miller proves to be a hard character to understand. On one hand the audience dislikes him because of his abrasiveness and rudeness to Detective Somerset (the obvious protagonist). On the other hand, the audience favors Miller because of his role in serving justice (solving the case) and because of the man he is in his own home (playing with dogs, snuggling with his wife, etc.). Initially, the relationship between Somerset and Miller feels like a classic good vs. evil separation. Somerset embodies the notable qualities of wisdom, practicality, and patience while Miller is confrontational, rude, and power-hungry. Yet the two come together to work on the case, to serve as a greater good against the evil of the unknown murderer. Fincher plays with the audience's emotions by prompting them to root for a character that isn't exactly favorable by playing on the larger feeling of disgust with the evil nature of the crimes.
Overall the film is a classic. Its something I am glad I watched and would consider watching again. It's a timeless film that managed to hold my attention and surprise me despite being dated 20 years. I give it two thumbs up.