Se7en

Rating: 10/10 (2 December 2007)

Long is the way, and hard, that out of hell leads up to light ... (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book II. Line 432)
"Seven deadly sins, seven ways to die" is the tag-line for this intense psychological thriller directed by David Fincher:
~ Detective Sergeant Mills (Brad Pitt) is set to replace Detective Lieutenant Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a world-weary cop retiring after years on the force. Somerset can see no end to the harrowing crimes he has witnessed, the sickness that is the City. Dealing with murder, rape, abuse, and poverty has become the Lieutenant's life and he now hopes for some small shred of peace. Mills, on the other hand, is new to the city; he is arrogant and brash, having little time for Somerset's thoughtful and analytical techniques.
As retirement beckons, so a new spate of killings begin. Like it or not, Somerset is given the investigation by the Captain (R Lee Ermey) while Mills is put on a different case. The murders are soon linked to the same killer - a twisted genius who chooses his victims based on the seven deadly sins in Dante Alighieri's 'The Divine Comedy' - and Mills and Somerset are paired together once more.
Despite their clash of personalities Mills and Somerset strike up a good partnership, Somerset's introspectiveness and Mills's self-confidence turning out to be a useful combination. Each one learns a lot from the other; indeed, Mills's wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) thinks Somerset is a good influence on the husband she is rapidly growing concerned about.
It soon becomes apparent that the 'sins' killer is playing a deadly cat-and-mouse game with the detectives, enjoying watching them either stumble or succeed at every turn in the case ... while he continues to kill according to the seven deadly sins: gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, lust. They must stop him before he can finish his murder spree and most probably disappear forever ~ Se7en is not only the most accomplished film by David Fincher (Zodiac) but almost certainly - from a writing and directing viewpoint - the best psychological thriller in the history of film and television. There are none of the stereotypical clichés found in countless thrillers of violence, no room for the predictable, for the viewer is kept constantly in the dark until the very end. And the climax is both ferocious and awe-striking ... for once Hollywood kept the outcome a secret until the day of release, not an easy thing to do.
Whatever vision Andrew Kevin Walker had before he took his script to screenwriter David Koepp (Secret Window) was ultimately realised once in the hands of David Fincher. Fincher's dark and rain-driven sewer, his city of sins, has yet to be matched on film. His choice of cast was spot-on. Se7en is a true classic, crossing genres like crime, horror, thriller and police procedural ... dark and moody, harrowing and painful, Se7en will appeal to the darker side within us all.
Co-stars John C McGinley as California (captain of SWAT team)
Matthew J Lee-Williams, Review.