5/5 Review: Se7en (1995)
  by Matthew Lanka
Director: David Fincher
Writer: Andrew Kevin Walker
Starring: Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey

This film is a great example of how every aspect of film making can come together to create a stellar drama in a brilliant and visceral world. David Fincher directs a stellar cast in this modern crime classic.

Big city detectives Mills (Pitt) and Somerset (Freeman) find themselves investigating a serial killer who chooses his victims based on the seven deadly sins.

I think this is David Fincher's best film. While the acting comes up just short of perfection (with the obvious exception of Spacey, who is brilliant in what little screen time he has), the story and visual feel of this movie will keep you ensnared the entire time. I especially enjoyed the non-traditional aspects of the character development. Many of the characters could easily have devolved into predictable stereotypes, good cop/bad cop, crazy killer, etc. However, so many scenes and characters evolved differently than you would expect, but still very logical. It's as if to say "we know how you would expect this to go, but here is an alternative. Didn't expect that, did you?" The unpredictability of the story is the hook that won't let you go.

Between scenes of brutal and often horrifying killings and witty dialogue, the world of Se7en had me from start to finish. And speaking of finishes (and without giving anything away), the ending hit me in the gut with a sledgehammer. I never saw it coming. I would rank the final scene of Se7en right up there with the best of them. It's as shocking as it is brilliant.

Final Score: 10/10

5/5 Great movie!!!
  by Noeliam (Boerne, TX.)
One of Brad Pitt's best, and of course the ever talented Morgan Freeman. I definitely reccomed it to any one who enjoys crime drama's or Fight Club.

4/5 Maybe even 4.5
  by IF (Portsmouth, NH USA)
Right to the point, a wholly original film on all levels, and one of Pitt's best. The only thing out place for me is the finale. As the storyline goes, each person guilty of his/her deadly sin was killed for commiting said sin. Exception being Brad Pitt's character guilty of Wrath and yet not killed for his sin. Obviously, I still love this movie and this exception did not ruin it for me. If anyone out there has any feedback or even a different interpretation, I'd be glad to hear it.

5/5 The second best psychological thriller ever made.
  by Nicholi Blaise Woods (Dahlonega)
I first seen this movie with one of my aunts, and this is probably the second best maniac thriller ever made. Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman give great performances as two police detectives tracking down a psycho killer who bases his murders on the seven deadly sins. Kevin Spacey's performance as the killer may be a small role, but is still one of his best performances of his career. The ending is probably one of the best endings ever made in movie history, a great twisted ending.

3/5 Overrated Thriller (set in an always-rainy Manhattan)
  by Baron Sardonicus (Pennsylvania)
Maybe I am spoiled having seen the entertaining and taut "The Silence of the Lambs". Maybe serial killer thrillers will never measure up to that one. I can't dismiss "Se7en" completely, but I did find it overrated. It's been praised often and by many, but it truly may not deserve all the accolades. Sure, it's atmospheric and gruesome, but so is my junk drawer.

Yes, rain looks good in movies. It enhances the mood in film noir, in romance, in horror, in suspense, and in detective tales. But this is ridiculous excess. In a constantly rainy Manhattan, we learn about this madman who has been inspired by the seven deadly sins. Hence, the title of the film (not the most clever moniker but I'll forgive that). This detective yarn becomes predictable as it progresses. By the ending you can figure out what's about to go down. I do wish the screenplay was better; the relationship between the two main characters could have been really well defined, even witty and clever. Instead we get the 'same-old same-old' detective partners: wise one and reckless one. It's been done a bajillion times.

I can say that the production design was fairly effective-- but you expect that in a film like this anyway (and style doesn't win me over much if the story doesn't enthrall me at all). And the score by Howard Shore was good. But overall this is the sort of thriller that I see once and then have no wish to view again. I do hope that I was not supposed to be impressed by the notion of a killer who uses a theme, a killer who preaches and judges and wields his own brand of cruel justice. It's been done before this film, and it's been done since ("Saw" comes to mind... but then, that film script borrowed from many movies including scenarios from "Suspiria" and "The Abominable Dr. Phibes").

Bottom line: Worth a rental if you never saw it.