It's one of the best (if not, the best) thrillers of the nineties simply because it does what most thrillers rarely do: it has a point.

Rating: 10/10 (25 October 2004)

****MEGA SPOILERS WARNING****
Detective William Somerset is in the last seven days of his career in New York City homicide. He is to spend those seven days showing his replacement, Detective David Mills the ropes. The first crime scene the pair is sent to investigate is truly a bizarre one, a hugely obese shut-in has eaten himself to death, and is found face-down in a plate of spaghetti. Somerset insists that no one would take the time force a man to eat himself to death unless the act itself has meaning that this must be the beginning of something.
He asks to be reassigned and is refused. Mills asks if he can have the case and is also refused. Mills' next case is equally bizarre, a lawyer is found in his office having bled to death after being forced to cut off a pound of his own flesh. The word "Greed" has been written in his blood on the carpet. Meanwhile, Somerset returns to the fat man's apartment and finds that the word "Gluttony" has been written in the grease behind the refrigerator.
Aha! Somerset realizes what's going on, a serial killer is killing his victims based on the seven deadly sins: Gluttony, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and wrath. Both of the men realize that the killer won't stop his brutal killings until he methodically and creatively executes his victims until his final vision is realized and is remembered, and studied forever.
One thing is for sure, this movie is not for the queasy, but apart from that one caveat, I can't recommend it highly enough. The acting by Freeman and Pitt is what makes this movie one of the greatest crime thrillers of all time. It's stellar! Crime movies don't get any better than this, folks. The mystery is clever enough to keep you guessing all the way to the last five minutes of the movie. The direction by Fincher is great, the city has never seemed more oppressive or dark.
The soundtrack by Howard Shore I believe is another reason why this thriller ranks above all the rests and sits up with The Silence Of The Lambs. On another note, Kevin Spacey turns in a truly memorable cameo. In fact, it's better than most lead roles people are giving now a days. He plays a truly disturbed person, and one that you know must be insane. Just in this movie alone, Spacey proves he is one of the finest actors today.
What sold me on this film and just how damn disturbing and dark it is. It's quite amazing. I've yet to see a film that can match next to the upcoming, soon to be classic, "Saw". How the film didn't get recognized by the Academy Awards is beyond me. I can't wait to see a movie matches the dark, disturbing and down right brutal way the film plays modern society as place where no one will get away with their sins, and the punishment is unbearable.
****/*****