Brace yourself for a descent into the savage psyche – David Fincher’s 1995 crime classic Se7en dives headfirst into the twisted mind of a serial killer. Detective duo Mills (Brad Pitt) and Somerset (Morgan Freeman) race against time to stop the sadistic John Doe, who bases his murders on the seven deadly sins. Thanks to virtuoso filmmaking and additive mysteries, Se7en remains an uncompromising thriller masterwork.
From the opening credits scrawl through hellish landscapes, Fincher establishes a relentlessly dark tone mirrored by Darius Khondji’s grimy cinematography. The rain-soaked settings and grungy production design make the unnamed metropolis feel alien and foreboding, reflecting the evil lurking within. Howard Shore’s unearthly score accentsuate the macabre mood. Everything is meticulously crafted to put us on edge.
Of course, Pitt and Freeman command as the mismatched detective partners. Pitt brings coiled intensity to hothead rookie Mills, while Freeman exudes world-weariness as veteran Somerset on his final case. Their philosophical debates on sin and humanity elevate the genre writing. And their bond gives the horror unfolding a human core.
I won’t spoil the crafty plot, but Doe’s crime scenes elicit true shock and provocation through implication alone. The slow-burn mystery provides time to get inside the killer’s warped ideology. Fincher twists routine detective tropes into confronting studies of inhumanity and moral rot unchecked. It’s serial killer profiling mirrored back darkly onto society itself.
Is such unflinching cruelty justified or gratuitous? The grisly specifics make Se7en undeniably tough viewing. But Fincher seeks not to revel, but reveal our collective darkness if goodness is not nurtured. Light exists, but much pain first. This harrowing descent earns an ending that iconicizes how evil consumes in the absence of empathy.
Some argue Se7en wallows in grim nihilism. But Somerset and Mills retain faith despite the surrounding abyss. And the meticulous craft makes the viewer an implicit accomplice to confront hard truths. Fincher ultimately offers a cautionary moral tale warning against apathy, not hopelessness. The vivid horrors etched stay with you precisely because we know goodness is still possible.
Upon release, Se7en was a sleeper hit that shocked audiences and critics with sinister style. 25 years later, it remains Fincher’s benchmark for merging visceral tension with philosophical depth. Let him escort you through the darkest corners of iniquity, but also the light found through bonds of service and justice against the night. A true genre masterstroke.
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