Review on seven

Rating: 8/10 (12 June 2012)

Are you afraid of the deathly sins? By Dionne van der Nat, Floris van Hoogdalem and Myrte Tjoa
This review is about the film 'Seven', directed by David Fincher. The film is set in 1995, the year in which the movie was released. In which city the film is set, is unclear and unmentioned in the film. The two main characters, detectives Mills and Somerset are played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. It is a thriller which is very well directed and acted.
The film se7en is about two detectives who try to solve a series of brute murders. Detective Summerset is retiring in seven days, the seven days relate to the title of the film and the seven murders committed. Mills, the young detective, is desperately willing to do a case on his own. Every murder committed relates to one of the deathly sins. When the two detectives discover after the second murder they are dealing with the seven deathly sins they know there are some more horrible murders about to happen. Summerset and Mills try and do their best to catch this guy, but are they able to stop him in time? We thought seven is a very good film and enjoyed watching it even more than once. The film is really catching and moving. While watching the film you have the feeling you are really in it and everything in the film is really happening around you, you can feel the terror and fear of the characters. Unlike other films you can relate seven to reality, without knowing everyone sometimes feels or acts like the deathly sins, what if you would be murdered if you did again...?
Firstly, what makes this movie brilliant is that the acting is very convincing in Se7en. The character of William Somerset is brilliantly played by Morgan Freeman. His facial expressions, the way he talks and even his body language makes us believe in the character of William Somerset and he develops throughout the film. The connection between him and Brad Pitt is great and also shows us what a great actor Brad Pitt actually is. David Mills is the young gun in the movie, he is eager to learn and Pitt sells this really well. The two completely different detectives develop their 'bromance' throughout the film and you develop a form of sympathy towards the two. Another great acting performance is from Gwyneth Paltrow, who plays Mils' wife. The young actress has to make David Mills feel comfortable in his new surrounding and she tries to do that, although she herself is very insecure. Paltrow might be one of the most important characters in the whole story.
Secondly, the editing plays an important role in the movie. On the DVD version of the movie they show how and why they have sometimes edited the light and shots. When a scene with a negative mood is filmed, they edit the light in such a way that it is very dark at the set. When a scene with a positive atmosphere is filmed the set has been edited much lighter. The head-space of the actors has been chosen with care, e.g. in a serious scene they want to show the whole face of Morgan Freeman to show how serious he is and they also do this in the opposite way to create suspense. The use of the reverse shot is used quite often in this kind of movie, especially when there are interrogations. Se7en is not an exception, this technique also creates suspense, and you can clearly see the intentions of the one who talks. The average shot length in this movie is different per shot and this makes you think about it. The director has done this sometimes to create suspense, sometimes to make things clearer for the viewer. The use of parallel editing is not used that often in this movie, but when it is used, it is very effective and sometimes it shows a surprise.
Thirdly, the use of camera-work is from big importance in the movie. The director sometimes does not show things to manipulate us into thinking nothing is there. The use of reverse shot has been discussed in the paragraph above and this is vital in the movie to show the emotions from the characters during conversations. The way we see the corpses for the first time in this movie is also very well done. The camera is moving very slowly and you will see the grossest thing first. This creates a form of disgust and sometimes leave you breathless. The close-ups are mainly to show that the characters are worried and you can see the desperate look in their eyes. The movement of the camera when the detectives are chasing someone makes you feel part of the action and is therefore used effectively. The angle of the camera is sometimes used to make one of the characters look heroic (low angle) or to make a character look weak and vulnerable. The low angle technique is effectively used when the detectives chase the serial killer and it stocks your breath at that point.
We think this film was really well thought of and very well casted. Everything said in the film really makes you believe the serial killer could stand right behind you. The camera-work is very well done and the music well-chosen. The suspense keeps up throughout the entire film and at the end of the film we were breathless. We think this was a very good movie, and although is was made almost twenty years ago, the special effects are used effectively and the actors are believable. We really recommend watching this film!