Depressing yet shockingly real

Rating: 9/10 (16 October 2006)

A depressing yet effective thriller with a completely shocking and disturbing ending that will have you thinking about it for a long time. Yes that is the simplest way to explain David Fincher's Seven.
Seven is a thinking film that will have one questioning society and life in general. Kevin Spacey plays John Doe, a serial killer, and he is perfect in the role. He chooses each one of the victims because they are guilty of each one of the seven deadly sins which include gluttony, sloth, pride, greed, lust, envy, and wrath. What he does to these people is downright horrible and utterly disgusting, but he believes that he is doing God's work by using passages out of books like Dante's Inferno and others. We as the viewers are disgusted by what he does, but during his long monoloque near the end we can't help but wonder that what he's doing seems justifiable in a lot of ways.
The detectives on the case are Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Detective Mills (Brad Pitt). Both are also great in their roles. They are hot on John Doe's trail. One, Mills, the new kid on the block, does his job because he wants to improve things to make the world a safer place. The other, Somerset, is much older and has a very cynical outlook on life. Somerset's opinion is that he just wants to retire and escape from all the madness because he feels nothing will ever get better. Both of their personalities collide, but they continue to work together to solve the case.
Gwneth Paltrow plays Tracy Mills. She is Mill's wife and hates that they have moved to the city. Her part in the movie is a small one and a minor role, but it becomes much more important then anybody could've ever suspected.
This movie, splendidly directed by David Fincher, is dreary, dark, and depressing, but it is a very well made film which has some very strong points that it wants to make. It is well paced and filled with subtle moments that will lead to a very strong impact at the end. I didn't care to much for Fincher's Alien 3 because of how depressing it was, but that was a franchise that had already been started and was never really expected, in my opinion anyway, to take the darker turn that it does. With Seven we are not making a sequel, so it is a whole new ball game, and this time Fincher's skill shines through.
The ending, as I said above is completely appalling, but it is never completely unexpected, and that is because of the smaller subtleties during the movie's running time which helps prepare us for what happens. I was never caught off guard by what finally happens, and that is why this film doesn't quite get a perfect rating. However, if anybody was to ask me if they should see this movie I would say hell yes. I would also tell them to be prepared for some very nasty scenes which will make your blood run cold.