Walker's screenplay is a graceful masterpiece of horror. As embodied in the dilemma of Freeman's compassionate, burned-out Detective Somerset, Seven continually asks how much depravity and evil people can stand to see in modern society. It's the question that consumes each of the main players in Seven , from cops to killer. Hauntingly, every answer to that question is delusional, resigned, or homicidal. Most notable about Walker's screenplay is its uncompromising integrity.
Many interested hands pass over a film from script to final edit.
And very few of those hands concern themselves with truth or good story sense. That's why films like Fatal Attraction are reworked after preview screenings to give them the upbeat resolutions that will give them the best chance to score with audiences. Given the film's content, it's ironic that Seven feels like an almost idealistic venture in its cold purity. That it reached the screen in its present form is a testimony to maverick artistic sensibilities. Some might dismiss the film as a cynical grab for easy cult status, even down to a track by Nine Inch Nails under the title credits.