Films don't get much better than this. 10/10!

Rating: 10/10 (4 April 2001)

This movie immediately made it into my top five and has remained there now for six years...soon to be se7en. Sorry...couldn't resist. ;^)
The cast is a dream. Morgan Freeman's negative-but-wise Detective William Somerset is the perfect counterpoint to Brad Pitt's brash, hopeful Detective David Mills. Gwyneth Paltrow, although under-used, makes an impact as Tracy Mills, David's charming, beautiful wife. and Kevin Spacey as John Doe is the most memorable. The intelligent, quiet serial-killer has almost become a cliche lately, but Spacey's performance is menacing without ever having to appear as such. He just plain creeped me out.
The pacing of this movie is perfect. Detective work is a very slow, tedious process. Fincher's direction effectively portrays it as such. The show has a few fast and furious moments, but for the most part it moves at a snail's pace, which is appropriate given the subject matter. And the tension just builds and builds...something many movies try for but few achieve.
The screenplay is also wonderful. Conversations seem real, not forced as in most movies. In Se7en, the dialogue (and the acting) made me feel as though I was looking in on the lives of the characters rather than having those characters play out a story for me.
I, unlike a few people here, thought the ending was perfect. Those who disagree with me, think about it in the context of the real world. Maybe you didn't get to see what you thought *should* have happened, but you have to admit that you saw what most likely *would* have happened.
Also, let me rebut comments which deride this film as being unnecessarily violent or a gore-fest. There were only two scenes of on-screen violence in the entire movie. One involves a gunshot on a long lens, and the other involves a close-up but barely discernable blow with a tire iron. While we see plenty of blood and guts in other scenes, we do not see the acts of violence in the majority of them.
Se7en is a perfect 10 in my books.