Se7en, 1995
I recently watched Se7en with my cousins whom are all younger than me and about in their mid teens. No I wasn't babysitting they are way too old for that. On this girl's night in we decided to watch a scary movie instead of a sappy rom-com as most people would think we would choose. I hate horror movies. I cannot stress this enough, even reading some of the blogs on Orble (e.g. Horrorphile) scares me well not really but you get my drift. So at the thought of watching a horror movie late at night with a bunch of teens wasn't exactly what I wanted but of course I wasn't letting on that I was completely too scared to even try. One of my cousins has been kicking and complaining that she wanted to watch the Exorcism of Emily Rose. At the sound of this I was not happy. Yeah I probably be ohk during the screening but I know when I got to bed the next day all alone in my room I would just replay the images in my head. Yeah that's right I'm like a four year old. I can't sleep at night after watching a scary movie. I'm a full grown adult (although some might question this) and I cannot watch a horror movie. I don't know what happened I use to be alright with horror movies I think but than boom after watching a few I realised that I just can't handle them. Fortunately for me that night no one seemed keen to watch Exorcism of Emily Rose except of the said cousin who wouldn't let it drop. Even though she admitted that she was scared already by only having watched the trailer and I wasn't even scared. Some how after calming her down and ignoring her requests we found a compromise that we will watch Seven first and then watch Emily Rose after.To my great relief we finally began to watch Seven at 2am.
This crime-thriller is amazing to watch. The suspense was held and although not exactly an action packed movie it sure keeps you entertained. It has a top notch cast with the likes of Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. I know Freeman generally gets type cast as the cool calm and wise older character but it's hard to ever hate him as he does a perfect job of it. Freeman has a presence that's kind of like hey everything is under control coz he's here. A much younger looking Pitt is of course a brilliant actor and although much of the movie isn't about character development and more of the murders and the murderer Pitt really does delivers to show how frustrate Mills is with the whole situation being stuck with someone that is so different from him. Furthermore his hot-headedness (if that's even a word) does become a important part of the story but I do feel for the guy but I won't going into too much detail. Other famous cast member includes Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey. Paltrow wasn't actually in the movie for a lot of the time so her part was rather minor. As much I hate reveal too much but I have to mention Spacey. Spacey as the killer that is down right scary, classic psychopath - lack of remorse, signs of grandiose, cold, manipulative yet incredibly intelligent.
As some of you might have realised by now I'm a huge fan of David Fincher and anything he makes impresses me even Benjamin Button. Seven was definitely not a disappointment, a darker film and similar feel to Fight Club rather his other offerings like the Social Network. Fincher is brilliant in the fact he works with the story and creates a world according to the story and he do so by ensuring that he is telling that story the best way. He doesn't have certain signature techniques or at least not that I know of. Although he seems to be into the darker movies but he has proven that he can go beyond the darker movies and do something modern as seen in the Social Network. He seems make use of darker shots often filming at night or when it's raining especially in Seven and in Zodiac (which also happens to be about a murder case) but using that to set the feel of the movie. Even still Fight Club which also a dark film had a very different feel because it wasn't the same story and it was obscure and intriguing rather than suspenseful. I think what I love about Fincher's work that is can be so flexible. He can make anything of any genre (away from a noir or crime) and make it enjoy and engaging.
The final verdict for Seven is that it's a slow paced crime-thriller which was pretty amazing. It's got the recipe for a good thriller - suspense, drama and of course an actual story to follow. My criticism would be that I didn't understand the role of Paltrow character much - there was an scene with her and Freeman I didn't see the point of it and bored me a bit. As mentioned briefly above it didn't really hhave much character development but I don't think it was important however it kind of felt that the film was trying but not quite getting there. Although the movie was nearly 2 hours long for some reason it felt very short like there is very little on the bone - I’m not sure it's a complement or insult. In one aspect if went quickly that must mean I was enjoying it, on the other hand if I felt like it wasn't enough thus I was clearly wanting more thus unsatisfied. Regardless of all that Se7en remains a good movie and if you haven't seen I suggest you give it a go. My rating would be an 8 out of 10.
Samira =D
