"a study of pure unadulterated evil"

Rating: 10/10 (27 May 2002)

POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT!
The 90's was a great decade for film and 1995 in particular gave us some of the greatest motion pictures of our time (Usual Suspects, Casino, Heat et al) and Seven is possibly the best film of the 90's (The Shawshank Redemption aside).
Never have I witnessed such a study of pure unadulterated evil conducted with such style and panache as to make it endlessly watchable and shocking like no other film I've ever seen.
This film depicts the hellish state of society we sometimes find ourselves in and the absolute evil that can exist in some that walk this earth. John Doe is as close to the ultimate personification of evil that I've ever seen in a film without hamming it up or following the usual cliched approach to the hollywood bad guy (Take note Mr Pacino in The Devil's Advocate).
The final reel still chills to the bone seven years on. The way we feel for Mills as he spars with Doe in the car journey not knowing that his world is about to fall apart never fails to touch me. And the ending itself, on a par with Mr Spacey's other early career highlight from the same year.
This is motion picture perfection devoid of the sugar-sweet ending so much Hollywood junk suffers from. For once the Villain wins.