Image credit: IMDb

“Se7en” Review | Fincher Tackles Dante’s Inferno in Brilliant Detective Story

Ryan Brown
Pantheon of Film

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Spoilers beware.

Personally, this might be my favorite David Fincher film. I’ve watched Fight Club, Mank, The Killer, Alien 3, and The Social Network, so it’s safe to say I’m well-versed in his style. Out of all of these films, Se7en is my cup of deranged, bleak tea of near-absolute hopelessness; full of stunningly atmospheric production design, shocking moments of crime, and a tragic whopper of an ending, Fincher’s detective classic is one of the best to grace movie screens in the past 30 years. In this review, we have to answer the question: what’s in the box?

The city with no name is a cesspool of crime, apathy, and unbearable living conditions, drenched in constant rain and grime. Detective William Somerset, a few days from retiring and getting the hell out of this place, is paired with a new addition to the department in David Mills. Despite the two being entirely different from one another — William’s older, more patient demeanor conflicts with David’s hot-headed recklessness time and time again — they are brought together for a case that will shock the city to it’s core as grizzly, creative murders are found to be connected to one another. As this city delves further into total, uncaring apathy, these detectives will be the last stand for any semblance of hope left as they try to…

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Ryan Brown
Pantheon of Film

"Without change something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken." -Frank Herbert