an intelligent thriller not soon forgotten

Rating: 9/10 (27 April 2000)

se7en is creepy. no doubt.in the hands of others, it may have been a schlocky "silence of the lambs" serial killer movie, but the performances and direction are given such gravity that it really gets under your skin and is, at times almost too much too bear. it is easy to dismiss pitt's performance as average as i did (admittedly, i'm not a big fan) but watching it a third time after years between my quickly repeated first and second viewings, i found a cleverness in his character in that , as a rookie detective he is cocky and even irritating, but still just trying to do his job. by the end, we sympathise with him. with freeman at his side and under the VERY assured direction of david fincher, se7en is an absolute winner; the most intelligent, darkest AND best thriller i've ever seen. as a bonus, we also get two of the most imitated credit sequences in cinema history. genius.