Se7en

Se7en (1995)

Runtime: 127 minutes

Directed by: David Fincher

Starring: Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, a famous actor in a key, uncredited role, several famous faces in supporting parts

From: New Line Cinema

Until Wednesday night, I had never seen Se7en in full. I realize how preposterous this will sound to most, but until seeing the last IMAX showing, only a few minutes had been watched. As mentioned before, I am not a David Fincher fan. The one time I tackled Fight Club (25 years ago) I found it to be insufferable; the same goes for Gone Girl, which also had a completely illogical story. He's a director that in general is avoided; that's despite really liking Zodiac.

However, I haven't been to the cinema much in recent months, it's a movie with over 2 million ratings on Letterboxd and curiosity finally won out. Due to cultural osmosis the ending WAS known to me years before; somehow, who portrayed John Doe wasn't, or was forgotten by me! More on that later.

The assumption will be made that some still haven't watched the film themselves so specifics won't be mentioned besides the basics of a wacky cop duo in an unnamed city (old wise veteran Morgan Freeman and country bumpkin idiot Brad Pitt) discover a serial killer who has elaborately killed people utilizing methods based on the seven deadly sins. Yes it's all highly improbable although it's the movie standoffish tone, how frustratingly dumb Pitt's character was and a few sigh-worthy moments which made me not love the movie quite as much as everyone else.

The actor who portrayed John Doe (the villain) wasn't mentioned in the opening credits. Thus, for me imagine my shock! I won't spoil it for others even if it's quite easy to accidentally find out; it's a performer whom people think differently about now compared to 30 years ago, for reasons... that actor's presence helped make the final 10 to 15 minutes tremendous. That part of the movie I did have heart eyes for, one hilarious line reading from Pitt aside.

The cast full of solid pros was an asset; Gwyneth Paltrow IRL is a weirdo but I've never questioned her acting skills and she did shine in the few scenes she had. The unrelentingly grim tone didn't really bother me; at least the film was shot well and the Howard Shore score matched the dark aesthetic rather well. Of course I can't comment on the controversy over the CGI and AI tweaks that Fincher made to the film; “it did look and sound great in IMAX” is all I can say about the audio and visuals.

The director is someone I'll never fall in love with, and that is alright w/ me. There's no shortage of cinema more aligned w/ my peculiar tastes. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate the chance of the initial viewing in such a big setting, a film that was quite influential the past 30 years.