Dark, Grim, Compelling

Rating: 9/10 (9 December 1999)

It was in Alien3, that director David Fincher first made his mark: while the script may have been flawed, the acting mundane(save the ever-reliable Weaver) and the plot muddled, the film stayed afloat thanks to the fact that it simply oozed dark style. With Se7en, however, Fincher gets an opportunity to stamp his visual flair on a more-than-competent script, and a jaw-dropping cast(Freeman, Pitt, Spacey et al), and, predictably, an utterly compelling film results.
For a serial-killer film, Se7en has surprisingly little on-screen blood letting. However the depiction of a nightmarish city and ample forensic detail, together with taut acting and tense direction, means that it is at times an almost unbearably grim suspenser. Pitt delivers his lines with twitching intensity, but is far more restrained than in his manic performance in 12 Monkeys. Freeman is marvellously understated as a detective looking forward to retirement who is drawn into the grisly case which Pitt initially undertakes. Best of all, though, is Spacey, who > has a mammoth screen presence, albeit only being present on-screen for a relatively short period.
Overall Se7en is a relentlessly downbeat yet mightily impressive film. Not since The Silence of the Lambs has there been a psychological thriller with such an oppressive atmosphere and soaring energy as this. But while Lambs swept the Oscars in 1991(the only truly contemporary film to win the Best Picture award during the 90s) the Academy only managed to nominate Se7en for one Oscar(that for editing, which is admittedly superb). While Se7en is not quite as masterful as Lambs, it ought to have won at least a few more nominations(how Freeman was left out of the Best Actor category, one would never know).
The only reservation I'd have about Se7en is than Fincher at times tends to overdo the depressing plot developments. Certainly, the viewer can find little refuge or comfort in the ending, which means that the easily upset may want to steer clear; instead they might want to catch The Game, which has all of Fincher's visual flair and intensity, minus the downbeat tone. Otherwise Se7en comes highly recommended.
9/10.