IronWatcher’s review published on Letterboxd:
Schocktober 2021 #38 (Finale)
Watched on Blu-Ray
"With hideous ruin and combustion down to bottomless perdition" is what John Milton's "Paradise Lost" says. To bottomless perdition. The mere sound of these words sends an uncomfortable shiver down the spine. An effect that is only intensified by the work of David Fincher. In 1995, Fincher made a film that can be regarded with a clear conscience as one of the best crime thrillers and that can probably also serve as a prime example of the dark aura that characterises the films of the director from Colorado.
Just how special the film is becomes clear at the very beginning, when the viewer is forced to watch the intense and destructive work of John Doe: In the opening credits. He scrapes the skin off his fingertips, writes, copies, tinkers. He does everything to bring his work to completion. The appearance and the sound of the "music" work in partnership to disturb you and make you realise right away what is actually going on here. You don't watch this film to have a little fun and distract yourself from the outside world. When you watch "Se7en", you are transported into the darkest corner of the human soul with an intensity that is simply unpleasant.
The opening credits make this clear and in such a quick way that it is really impressive. But then it really gets going. Kevin Andrew Walker and David Fincher seem to be a terrific duo in this respect. The former provides an aggressively pessimistic world, the latter ensures that this world comes to life. That it breathes. That you feel it weighing on your skin and soul. Even though you don't want to. On the other hand, you can't escape the film's electrifying and gruelling atmosphere. It is almost as if the viewer is part of John Doe's plan. Without a chance against him and his every move, his superiority. He is always a few feet ahead of Mills (Brad Pitt), Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and the audience. From the beginning to the end. When the line between victim and perpetrator blurs because we are all everything at the same time. Doe emphasises that there are deadly sins on every street corner every day. Not even the viewer can exclude himself from this.
The original plan was to end the film right after the great scene in the fields. Directly after the seventh and last deadly sin comes to light. But since this was a step or two too dark for the producers, a kind of epilogue was shot. Nevertheless, "Se7en" remains a film that keeps turning the screws and then degenerates into a pure rush for the last 20 minutes. Not only between the characters, but also inside the recipient. You don't get any peace, you don't get any cathartic effect, you are left alone with the anxiety, so that the last 20 minutes feel like an eternity. But then, at some point, the credits roll. From top to bottom, by the way. Down. To bottomless perdition.
"Se7en" is a pressure on the soul that slowly but steadily gets tighter and tighter for 130 minutes. And then looks down smugly on its handiwork, the broken spectator. Not with a smile (there's no room for that here), but with an almost professional coldness, just as if it was doing its day job. A work of machismo that is hard to beat in terms of pessimism. The purest parade in terms of direction, acting and the euphoria of those involved. One of those films that you can watch over and over again if you like this kind of flick and that will stand the test of time in its field.
