Ordinary movie lifted by one extraordinary performance

Rating: 4/10 (19 May 2000)

For me, this movie was a pretty blah experience. That it managed to grab the top five Academy Awards is a mystery to me; 1991 must have been a truly dismal year for the movies if the Academy chose to honour this rather average offering. I've been really anxious to see the film after I've heard so many good things about it, and as I sat through the first rather unremarkable half-an-hour, I kept saying to myself: "Ok, it should get brilliant any time soon now... shouldn't it??" But it didn't. It wasn't involving, it wasn't chilling or scary or compelling in any way. I usually adore Jodie Foster, but here she gave an unremarkable performance and I didn't care for her character one bit. Anthony Hopkins almost saved the movie for me with his truly brilliant turn as Dr Lecter, but I felt that it was a supporting role at best. Overall, Se7en is a way better movie than this so-called "masterpiece".