So good it's a sin

Rating: 9/10 (20 January 2016)

Bleak, gruesome, brilliant. These are a few of words that come to mind when I think of David Fincher's 'Se7en'. In lesser hands the concept (two detectives on the trail of a serial killer committing stylized murders based on the Seven Deadly Sins) could've been nothing more than a gimmick, but here it's a deftly crafted game of cat and mouse that pulls you in, even as it makes you want to turn away. But that said, it's not what I'd call an exceptionally graphic film. More is implied than is shown, and we fill in the blank spots in our mind's eye. A far more effective technique than the cheap gross-out route.
The cast is excellent, lead by the inimitable Morgan Freeman. I can't believe Freeman didn't get an Oscar nod. I would cite genre bias, but then I think of 'Silence Of The Lambs' getting everything but the kitchen sink just a few years before at the Academy Awards. Co-star Brad Pitt is no Freeman, but he more than holds his own with the veteran here and the two have an exceptional chemistry. The killer, whose identity I will not reveal lest I ruin the surprise for those who may not have seen it, is brilliant in his few brief scenes.
It's not a pleasant film, and at the risk of spoiling it, there is no happy ending, but it's a filmmaking and storytelling clinic, and one Hell of a good movie.