‘Predictable’ May Just Be ‘Seven’s‘ Eighth Deadly Sin
Previews of “Seven” make it out to be a dark, gloomy murder mystery with Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman playing the detectives who hunt down a devious serial killer. Sounds like fun, right?
Wrong. “Seven” is the only movie I have ever seen that actually made me sick to my stomach. A few audience members left the theater sarcastically muttering, “Good movie.” Not only was “Seven” tough to watch, but it displayed an amazing lack of subtlety.
“Seven” takes place in an unnamed city where it always rains and no one bothers to turn on the lights. The movie looks like a long, twisted Nine Inch Nails video. The city is also plagued by crime and a largely apathetic citizenry.
Freeman plays Detective William Somerset, another incarnation of the wise, older mentor figure he always plays. As the movie opens, Somerset is due to retire and David Mills (Pitt) has arrived to replace him.
Mills and Somerset end up taking on a string of murders that begins with the death of a grossly obese man who was forced to eat himself to death. The killer scratches the word “gluttony” on the victim’s kitchen wall, and it becomes apparent over the next week that there will be a murder for each of the Seven Deadly Sins (sloth, greed, etc.).
The audience is not spared a single revolting detail and the murders only get sicker.
Somerset is doubtful of Mills’ ability to handle the case, and rightly so. Mills is a hot-headed, immature guy with absolutely no class. He is Brad Pitt’s least appealing character since Irly Grace in “Kalifornia.”
The only ray of light in the movie is supplied by Mills’ wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow). She’s pregnant and unsure whether she wants to bring a child into such a disgusting city, a place where she is entirely alone. As Mills and Somerset get closer to the killer, she fades from the picture, yet the viewer knows she is in danger.
Which brings up one of the film’s major flaws: “Seven” is very predictable. The killer makes an appearance midway through the film and - though Mills and Somerset miss him - it is easy for the audience to guess who it is.
“Seven” is obvious in other ways as well. In the beginning of the movie, characters who barely know each other are having “deep” conversations about good and evil and the nature of detective work. The film assumes the viewer is stupid, so it states things straight out that should be implied.
Even the acting (aside from Paltrow’s) is conspicuous. In some of Pitt’s scenes, it’s hard not to notice how bad he is.
On the good side, “Seven” has great pacing. The action escalates to a tense climax, which is probably the only reason more people didn’t walk out. The audience waited to see Mills and Somerset triumph over evil. They never did.
It left me wishing I had left. Despite its few strengths, I can’t recommend “Seven” to anyone.
Grade: D