![]() ![]() ![]() Instead of being simply thequarry in a chase, he is revealed as a twisted but articulate antagonist, whohas devised a horrible plan for concluding his sermon. "Seven"is unique in one detail of its construction it brings the killer onscreen withhalf an hour to go, and gives him a speaking role. ("Anyonewho spends a significant amount of time with me," he says, "finds medisagreeable.") Eventually, it becomes clear that the killer's sermon isbeing preached directly to the two policemen, and that in order to understandit, they may have to risk their lives and souls. The material by itself could have been handled inmany ways, but the director, David Fincher ("Alien 3"), goes forevocative atmosphere, and the writer, Andrew Kevin Walker, writes dialogue thatfor Morgan Freeman, in particular, is wise, informed and poetic. The onlyglimmers of life and hope come from Tracy ( Gwyneth Paltrow), Mills' wife.Īmovie like this is all style. But the corpses pile up, in cold fleshydetail, as disturbingly graphic as I've seen in a commercial film. A break in the case comes with Somerset's sudden hunch that thekiller might have a library card. Mills settles for the Cliff Notesversions. Somersetintuits that the killer is using books as the inspiration for his crimes, andstudies Dante, Milton and Chaucer for hints. Inthis jungle of gloom, Somerset and Mills tread with growing alarm. Even whenall the lights are turned on in the apartments of the victims, they cast onlywan, hopeless pools of light.Īlthoughthe time of the story is the present, the set design suggests the 1940s GaryWissner, the art director, goes for dark blacks and browns, deep shadows,lights of deep yellow, and a lot of dark wood furniture. This is a very dark film,the gloom often penetrated only by the flashlights of the detectives. Thelook of "Seven" is crucial to its effect. ![]() Somerset concludes that thekiller, " John Doe," is using his crimes to preach a sermon. In each case, the murder method is appropriate, and disgusting (onevictim is forced to cut off a pound of his own flesh another is tied to a bedfor a year a third, too proud of her beauty, is disfigured and then offeredthe choice of a call for help or sleeping pills). Soon Somerset and Mills are investigatingequally inventive murders involving Greed, Sloth, Lust and the other deadlysins. ![]()
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