An essential film (Seven (DVD))

Member Name: moronboy

Product:	Seven (DVD)
Date:	21/11/00 (5 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Brilliant, shocking, unforgettable

Disadvantages: None

A scorching urban thriller which is deservedly regarded as one of the best modern crime films. An overly familiar premise - serial killer with a gimmick is hunted by mismatched cop duo - is rapidly exploded. Indeed, expectations are confounded from the outset by the superb expressionist title sequence.

From then on, the mood is black and getting blacker as in a classically nasty unnamed urban hell, cocksure young gun Brad Pitt and waiting on retirement Morgan Freeman start an investigation into who is killing various city-dwellers according to the seven deadly sins.

Despite Freeman's clever detective work (in sequences which is one of the few cinematic homages to the beauty of the library), this is not a mystery thriller (the killer gives himself up), more an assault on the idea of modern city living. Freeman can only escape the clamour and chaos of the place by virtually hypnotising himself into sleep, while Pitt's wife (Gwyneth Paltrow) wonders whether it is fair to bring her unborn child into a world as ugly as the one she sees around her.

It's not without flaws. There is some ambivalence over whether or not John Doe's victims deserve to die; Gluttony is truly disgusting, while the killer chooses a prostitute as his Lust figure, despite the fact that it is her clients who are guilty of that.

But overall, it is a masterly piece of film-making. From the unhealthy, claustrophic way it is shot, through some brilliant action sequences (the chase where Pitt almost catches the villain is an astonishing piece of film-making) to a trio of outstanding performances from Pitt, Freeman and the cameo star villain, everything contributes to the unique texture of menace. And the ending, which bravely follows the trajectory of Andrew Kevin Walker's nightmare script to its logical conclusion, shows that the standard Hollywood cop-out can sometimes be avoided in quite shocking way. See this film.

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