Se7en: Grotesquely Effective

Never has a final twist in a movie disturbed me as much as the last jab that David Fincher's 1995 serial killer procedural Se7en throws. It's a twist that's smart, horrifying, and worst of all, understandable. I'm not ashamed to admit that my heart was pounding out of my chest harder than I can remember in all my years of watching movies - and I knew about the twist beforehand. I don't envy those of you going into this one blind. Nevertheless, the fact that Se7en made me feel bad doesn't mean I didn't love it. I loved Detective Mills, Detective Somerset, and how different they were from each other. In a weird way, I even loved the city they inhabit, one overrun with criminals, poverty, and now a serial killer, one carrying out his gruesome mission of targeting people based on the seven deadly sins, hence the movie's name. To say I enjoyed Se7en or loved any aspect of it might be a misleading statement. I enjoyed and loved it as one might be amazed by the power of a tornado wiping out a town. I enjoyed and loved it as one might be wowed by the power of a nuclear bomb. I enjoyed and loved it as one might be impressed by the intellect of a serial murderer.

The unnamed city of Se7en is a dingy one. It's an oppressive home base for a neo-noir darker than possibly any other I've ever seen, and its rainy and dirty world is so detailed that it's practically a living and breathing creature, a living and breathing creature that's home to some well-paired detective characters. The contrast between Somerset's disillusioned seniority and Mills's frustrated eagerness is brilliant, and I was drawn to the tension between them and their disparate methods of solving the case. Mills is laid-back, contemporary, and hot-headed when it comes to gathering answers, and Somerset is the old-fashioned type, the kind of man who goes to the library when he needs answers. Se7en doesn't shortchange you with its killer, either. His seven-deadly-sins-based modus operandi is so fundamental yet refreshingly original all at once. It'll make you wonder what gruesome parallel he'll draw between these sins and his next victim.

Se7en is a horrific movie, far more than any conventional horror or slasher I've ever seen. To call it upsetting would be an understatement. To say I enjoyed it would be on some levels true, but again, Se7en is the type of movie where it's only a runaway success if it's also horribly appalling. Each murder in this movie is horrific and upsetting, yet also weirdly intelligent in its own right. It's almost as if you can see a slow, creeping dotted line between them, as if the killer is morbidly saying See?! See what I did there?? At a runtime of a mere two hours and some change, Se7en would have benefited from some more downtime between some of the grisly murders to let the weight of its story settle in, but I can't lie to you - this movie is as grimly effective as any I've ever seen, shortchanging or no.

To be totally honest, I will probably never watch Se7en again. It's an all-out assault on the senses, far from the type of movie you watch casually. Still, its skill is unmistakable, and it's only insanely repulsive because Fincher and Co. wanted it to be that way and had the necessary talent to make it so and then some. In that case, I admire Se7en. Its dingy and depressing vision of a city wrought with both poverty and depravity is one of the most well-realized and immersive worlds I've ever seen in any movie, and its characterization and pairing of the young and impulsive Mills with the older and more judicious Somerset is an equally well-thought-out dynamic. This movie could have used another twenty minutes of runtime or so to provide some breathing room between some of the murders, but it nevertheless firmly solidifies itself as a grotesque, top-notch thriller, one so grotesque I might even call it horror.

Although even that word may not be strong enough to describe what Se7en did to me.

Se7en - 9/10

Proverbs 6:16-19