After 10 years, the story still seems fresh. Best thriller ever.

Rating: 10/10 (9 September 2005)

Se7en is an amazing thriller that still seems fresh even after ten years. The story revolves around two cops played by Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt, one of whom is ready to retire and the other is just starting. Freeman and Pitt work great together and I was pleased to see Brad in a movie where he isn't some charming bad boy like in most of his movies. It's a nice change and I'd like to see him do more characters like that. Freeman of course does a spectacular job as well, but that goes without saying. Although the new cop/old cop pairing has been done jillions of times before, somehow Freeman and Pitt manage to make their characters different and captivating. The two, after a rough start, become friends and a good subplot involving Gwyneth Paltrow as Pitt's wife, emerges that is a nice respite from the grittier main story, which of course later ties in with the main plot later, as in every respectable movie.
Of course, the real focus of the movie is not about our protagonists. A serial killer (Kevin Spacey) has started a killing spree and chooses his victims based on the Seven Deadly Sins, which are Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Lust, Pride, Envy, and Wrath. He chooses very creative fates in which he fights fire with fire so to speak as he turns their Sins against them. This is where the movie gets very graphic. The "Sinner's" fates are both cruel and unusual. If you're sqeamish, stay away, but it really isn't too bad compared to other movies. You never actually see the murders take place, just the corpses and aftermath. (Which is bad enough) This provides a nice balance that helps you focus on the detectives and their search for the elusive culprit behind all this as opposed to the story just being an excuse to show you grisly murders like the Saw series. Most of the movie revolves around the cops finding the various victims and trying to make sense of the antagonist's tantalizing hints and clues. The villain is very mysterious, and is definitely an interesting head case. He remains an enigma right up to the end, but luckily you do get to see how his mind works near the end. Spacey does a spectacular job portraying this mysterious figure when he's on screen, but sadly he's only really in it during the final part of the movie. But this isn't really a complaint. It's an interesting step out of the norm to not fill the screen time with the villain calling the heroes every five minutes to let him know that he hates them and they'll never prevail against his evil plan. The entire movie has a very dark and gloomy feel to it. Just about every inside scene is dark and outside it's usually always raining or cloudy.
Se7en is a great thriller that should appeal to everyone except for those who think that all movies should be fairy tales and should end perfectly. The plot runs along at a good pace and has one of the greatest (not happiest) surprise endings I've ever seen. I never saw it coming even as it was happening. Perhaps what I like the most about Se7en is that it is not just a gore fest. It has a feel of intelligence and even makes statements about the evils in our society and our tolerance of them. Pretty daring for a thriller. With it's dark mood, creative characters, and spectacular plot, Se7en comes highly recommended. A 10 out of 10.