a good, but flawed movie

Rating: 9/10 (20 December 2001)

Before seeing this movie, I was expecting great things. All of my friends who had seen it before me had told me what a great movie it was. It was good, a taught thriller that was quite satisfying. Until the ending, that is, which was the worst cop out of an ending that I could imagine for this film.
Up until the very last four minutes of this film, I would have rated it a 10. The cinematography was fantastic, the acting by Morgan Freeman and R. Lee Emery in particular fantastic. Also, Kevin Spacey was very good as John Doe, but there was something particularly hollow in his demeanor at the end. Without giving away the details, there is no way this is in the top 100 films on IMDB, but it is a good film. It's no Citizen Kane, though.
The obvious comparison for this movie is "Fight Club," another Fincher effort. Fincher is much more successful in "Fight Club," though, especially on the ending, which felt not only natural, but left you with closure (unlike in "Se7en," where you are definitely left feeling that there was another half hour of unfinished business, or the ending should have been different). I loved fight club, but "Se7en" I would not go and see again. Just flat out not nearly as good a movie.