The curious case of John Doe

Rating: 8/10 (12 August 2012)

A psychopathic killer goes around killing people, staging their death according to one of the seven deadly sins. Two cops are assigned for the case, one is experienced and stoic and one is impulsive and heated. As they investigate the case, they get caught up in the killers game and need to immerse themselves in his psyche.
David Fincher orchestrates this film as a pretty straightforward thriller for the most part. The two cops go from crime scene to crime while both of their characters get explored and you get to understand why they work how they do. The dynamic between Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt really works here because neither of them is a cardboard cutout, simply there to convey their respective life mottos, but real three-dimensional human beings, allowing for some genuine conflict. The killer here is a self-perceived messenger of god, on a mission to show everyone how messed up the world has become. Kevin Spacey portrays him as intelligent and seemingly controlled, rather than insane, which you would expect from someone who puts heads in shoe boxes, thus making this villain scary as hell.
The ending is plotted perfectly and it thematically rounds up the movie. Although its pacing isn't pulled off as perfectly as its written, its still one of the best endings you'll ever see in a thriller.