“Hemingway once wrote: ‘The world is a fine place and worth fighting for’. I agree with the second part.”
What’s it all about? Detective William R. Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is preparing to retire and leave the near-constant horrors of the city in which he lives. Before he is able to leave, however, he is partnered with Detective David Mills (Brad Pitt), his young, short-tempered replacement, in order to investigate a series of murders inspired by the seven deadly sins. [SPOILER WARNING]
I was so completely enthralled by this film that, when a friend called during a scene between Freeman and Pitt, I answered the phone, said “I’ll call you back.” and hung up without much notice of what was said on the other line. The film begins somewhat slowly, but it picks up the pace as the murders get progressively more and more gruesome. The deaths in relation to Sloth and Lust were particularly horrific. I couldn’t even fathom thinking that those were possible — but I sat in front of my television screen with appalled immobility.
With two more sins to get through, I was surprised to see the serial killer walk into the precinct covered in blood, pretty much convicting himself of his own crimes. I was even more surprised that John Doe was Kevin Fucking Spacey. As soon as I saw his blood-spattered face, I screamed, “Oh my god! It’s Kevin Spacey!”. My roommate later came out of her room and asked, “Where?!”. After seeing him dancing around like Fred Astaire in “Beyond the Sea”, I was a little nonplussed at the thought that Spacey’s John Doe could be capable of the murders throughout “Se7en”. (But not so shocked, as I have recently watched Spacey in “American Beauty”, “The Big Kahuna” and “The Life and Death of David Gale”. And he’s by no means doing show tunes in those films.)
Favourite Scene: I would have to say the ending scene, as I did not expect that — at all. The whole time I was waiting for Kevin Spacey to somehow go all Sayid Jarrah on their asses and kill them while still being handcuffed. Spacey’s character seemed completely capable of doing it. If you’ve seen “Se7en” in its entirety, you should check out this video parody below. Someone sent the link to me this afternoon, so, I was compelled to watch “Se7en” as soon as possible. When I did watch the parody, I burst out laughing at what Morgan Freeman takes out of the box. It was a nice relief of stress after seeing all those people murdered.
Notes: Directed by David Fincher; Produced by Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle; Written by Andrew Kevin Walker; Starring Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, R. Lee Ermey; Music by Howard Shore; Cinematography Darius Khondji; Editing by Richard Francis-Bruce.
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this movie creeped me WAY out. i much prefer the alternative version…