One of the scariest, nastiest thrillers ever filmed - makes The Silence of the Lambs look like a children's movie!

Rating: 10/10 (17 May 2007)

1991: Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs shocks the world, gets almost unanimous praise from critics and audiences alike, and wins five Oscars, proving serial killer flicks can be more than just a sub-category of the thriller/horror genre. 1995: David Fincher, still scarred by the mixed reactions to his first film, the underrated Alien 3, unleashes Se7en. The latter wins no Academy Awards, but people are so impressed/disgusted/terrified by the ferocity and bleakness of Fincher's vision it actually manages to make Demme's work seem rather tame. So uncompromising it is occasionally hard to watch, Se7en paints a disturbing portrait of madness no other film has been able to match.
Ironically, none of the gruesome murders in the film occur on screen: what we are shown is merely the aftermath, which is more than enough to upset the weak of stomach. It sure as hell upsets William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a police officer who is about to retire but has to solve this last, horrific case. Helping him with the investigation is the edgy David Mills (Brad Pitt), a young hothead who wants to put the killer behind bars and make sure he suffers as much as the victims (the killings are based on the seven capital sins). Unfortunately for them, this guy is not someone you catch that easily: John Doe (a name usually given to unidentified corpses) is a cold-blooded, calculating psychopath, and once he unveils his big project, nothing but pain can derive from it.
What distances Se7en from most Hollywood thrillers is the consistently dark, nerve-cracking mood: while the average shocker has some kind of redeeming trait in the end, Fincher decides to go all the way with his unflinching study of the human psyche, leaving no room for hope or salvation. As repulsive as they may look, Doe's murders are actually little more than the premise: the really bad stuff happens after-wards, and even the most skeptical viewers will probably gasp in horror as the film reaches its almost unbearably bleak conclusion (the kind of ending late-night pub discussions were created for).
The unsettling atmosphere is also due to the performances, Freeman's understated sadness being the ideal counterbalance to Pitt's brooding rage (a side the actor took to sublime levels in his other collaboration with Fincher, the splendid Fight Club). But it is Kevin Spacey (there's no use in not mentioning him, since by now everyone knows he is in the movie before they have even seen it) who truly leaves a mark, in the role that, alongside his Oscar-winning turn in The Usual Suspects, set the bar for every other villain to have been created since. He may not be on screen for much time, but then again, neither was Anthony Hopkins when he played Hannibal Lecter for the first time. The difference is, John Doe is so merciless and sadistic even Lecter would probably be afraid of running into him.
In the end, some people might not be able to watch this film; some might even refuse after reading a summary. But those able to stomach it will see not only a very cruel thriller, but also a compelling example of everything that's generally missing in Hollywood nowadays: film-making has seldom been so bold and fearless.