Best detective thriller ever

Rating: Null/10 (29 April 2002)

With Fincher's 'Panic Room' coming out next week, I decided to watch this gem of a detective thriller from 1995. I must say, however, that I watched the butchered BBC version which (for some God unknown reason) was shown pre-watershed AND with an hour's break in-between to show the news. This did not spoil my enjoyment, though, as it's one hell of a movie.
I've seen loads of detective thrillers (Kiss the Girls, Hangman, Resurrection, Along Came a Spider, etc.) and this puts them all to shame. It even seems unfair to pigeon-hole a movie this good, but anyhow there's a lot to like about it:

The atmosphere created by Fincher is excellent, and the gloominess adds to the dark subject matter of the movie. It always seems to be dark and raining, and the filth of the city is really captured. The atmosphere is like a character all its own.

The acting is great. While the roles of the jaded-old-cop-near-retirement and the cocky-new-cop-on-the-block are nothing new for this genre, Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt bring a fantastic freshness to the characters of Somerset and Mills, respectively. Kevin Spacey made a great John Doe, and Gwyneth Paltrow was good in her limited screen time. Another good thing was the film was never boring, as it's actually enjoyable to see Mills and Somerset interact and follow up leads. My only negative comment about the acting is Pitt goes WAY OTT on the climax. It was a bit hammy.

Good contrast between Freeman's disillusionment with the job (and with city life) and Pitt's eagerness to make a difference and to catch criminals. There's even a similarity between Freeman's and Spacey's characters, as both are world-weary and sick of the scum on the streets. The difference is Somerset has given up, while John Doe kills the people he believes are sinners. Is Doe Somerset's dark side?

Doe is a terrific serial killer- calm, rational, patient, but also menacing.

The ending: brilliant.

Anyone thinking of seeing Panic Room (or have already seen it) check this out. Brilliant.