Somewhat flawed, but intriguingly disturbing movie if suspense is your genre.

Rating: 5/10 (14 July 2006)

Disclaimer: I saw this on television; and while there was no written indication that the movie was cut, due to the 2-hour (including commercials) format of movies aired on television, up to 1/4 of this movie may have been cut, which may have colored my opinion of it.
This movie shows major flaws in directing, acting, casting, and plot. In the end, to me only the incomparable Morgan Freeman held it together, plus the dramatic ending gives it a lasting place in one's memory. The whole, however, is riddled with flaws -- from, for example, the silly over-dramatic cinematographic effects (lights flickering on objects just because the director thinks that's cool, and dozens of other annoying and distracting visual fancies), to the heavy-handed extremely over-dramatic and loud music (when all that's happening is that a rather routine crime scene is being investigated). This is the sign of either a poor filmmaker or a thin plot; in this case, it was both.
The actors aren't all up to par either. Brad Pitt is off -- just out of his early sex-god roles in Thelma and Louise, A River Runs Through It, and Legends of the Fall, he hasn't quite entirely got his acting legs to play a serious cop role yet, and although he does fine for the most part, there are several "off" moments which spoil the flow and realism of the movie. His inconsistency is distracting. Paltrow has not quite got her chops yet either, and this is still the infancy of her career. And Kevin Spacey seems greatly miscast -- Anthony Hopkins (Hannibal Lecter) he is not. I kept seeing K-Pax or any number of other cherubic-cheeked sweet-guy Spacey roles in this performance, not a serial killer. Plus they used a very skinny, nimble, athletic stunt double (who did not look at all like the very stolid, round-cheeked Spacey) to play John Doe up till the time he is captured and we see his face, which compounds the feeling that Spacey is grossly miscast. (If that wasn't a stunt double, then the character was portrayed in two personas too widely different to be totally believable.)
But then again, Morgan Freeman is a Rock of Gibraltar and can save any movie, even one with as many plot flaws, film-making flaws, acting flaws, and casting flaws as this one. Although I found this movie to be a disappointment (Silence of the Lambs it most definitely was not), in the end it was worth seeing because of Freeman and because of the intriguing ending.
I'd say, if thrillers/suspense (especially disturbing ones) is your genre, by all means watch Seven; if not, you may want to view something else instead.