Se7en

I had seen clips from the movie online, references to the ending, and based on the critical acclaim and the fact that it was pretty much a mood board for The Batman, I was going to get to this film eventually. But bro what did I just watch? Right from the opening credits, I was locked in because the eerie feeling set the tone for the rest of the film. The dialogue was brilliant and felt so natural between the two leads and the rest of the characters, and Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman were perfectly cast in their roles. They never actually said the name of the city for the duration of the movie, but it felt very much alive. The constant down pour, the noise from the cars in the streets, the grimy atmosphere, I could almost smell it I really like how even though we follow 7 brutal killings in 7 days, very little violence was actually shown in the movie. So we’re seeing the crime scenes and photos, and the audience gets to mentally fill in the blanks, which meant the pacing was great, but I’m a very visual person so I was completely horrified by how I thought the murders were happening😭especially gluttony and lust One of the favourite scenes was the apartment chase. I loved the sound design and quick cuts when Mills was running through the streets, highlighting the chaos within the city and of the situation. The same technique was used in the ending after Somerset sees what’s in the box. Of course Somerset and Mills mirror each other so well, but something I found interesting was how similar Somerset and John Doe actually are in a sense. They’re both hyper intelligent, calm, and have a completely apathetic view of the world based on everything that’s happened in the city, except John is willing to go multiple steps further to take matters into his own hands. Just a minor detail I thought so cool was the framing in the car scene towards the end. John Doe has been caught, but during his dialogue, the grill mesh that separates them is out of focus, and we can see him clearly. Whereas Somerset is shot completely still and in clear view, but with Mills, he keeps reacting to everything John says, and the grill mesh is IN focus - showing who was metaphorically “caged” and foreshadowed who had the upper hand in that situation. Back to my earlier point, for the greed killing, I DID think it was wild that John could walk out of a busy office covered in blood without anyone noticing him. Made even worse by the fact that when he turned himself in, also covered in blood, in a room full of cops, no one even noticed until he had to scream. Also, Kevin Spacey’s line delivery for the “DETECTIVEEEEEE!!!!” was top-notch. Right before that, Mills got a missed call from Tracy, but he didn’t even acknowledge it, which makes the ending so much more impactful because that was most likely right before she died. I feel like that level of apathy was rampant throughout the film, even in little moments like Mills forgetting the name of the cop who was killed on his first day. I think there were multiple references to the city itself having that effect on people, which in my head cannon is partially why Tracy was so uncomfortable there, because she seemed like one of the only decent people in the movie. On the ending, I love how we never saw how she was killed, or what was in the box, but again, the movie makes you imagine it most horrifically, based on everyone’s reaction and the quick flashes of her face. I was rolling in tears😭😭 Damn good watch!