Seven
 (1995)
review by Head Cheeze

David Fincher's Seven is one of the most sublimely influential thrillers ever made, and one need look no further than their local video shop for literally dozens of films that lifted everything from the film's groundbreaking credits sequence to it's destaturated visual style; Seven serves as both a blueprint and a benchmark for film and television to this day.

Mills (Pitt) is a gung-ho young detective relocated to the bustling action of Nowhere City, USA as a replacement for the retiring Somerset (Freeman), a quiet and cultured veteran who has simply seen enough. The pair answer a call to a house where an overweight shut-in has expired as a result of being force-fed to death. Somerset sees this as more than an isolated crime and wants nothing to do with it until his detective instinct and bonding with Mills' charming wife (Paltrow) leads him to assist the rookie as the more victims turn up, each killed to reflect one of the seven deadly sins. As the pair become more entrenched in the case, the killer becomes more allusive, until it's apparent that every move the detectives make are as shrewdly calculated by the killer as the crimes themselves.

Upon it's release Seven was such a unique film that many just didn't know what to make of it. The "heros" don't save the day, there are no moral lessons or socio-political underpinnings; Seven was just...there. I remember some critics referring to it as the most depressing film they'd ever seen, devoid of entertainment value, while others hailed it's brilliance for being so unflinchingly honest and brutal. Either way, the consensus was that Seven did not play by the rules, and it became a curious and unexpected hit; a slap in the face of conventional Hollywood wisdom, and a star was born in director Fincher.

Originally presented on a bare bones disc (that you had to flip over because the film's "visual information" could not fit on one side), Seven was given the full New Line Platinum Series treatment in 2001, with a two-disc feast of extras, including 3 (!) commentary tracks, extended and deleted scenes, storyboards, a section of storyboards and sketches for the alternate ending scenarios, production designs, stills gallery, a dissection of the opening credits from multiple angles, and, one of my favorite features of any disc in my collection; animated notebook pages from John Doe's extensive scribblings that are actually readable and really fucking disturbing!

This version of Seven is special as well because David Fincher and team went BACK into the studio and recolored and remastered the film SPECIFICALLY for this DVD release, using technology that was just out of the directors reach in 1995, to deliver the version of the film he wanted us to see all along. It's absolutely stunning to watch, and if you A/B it to the original DVD release you will see how much of a difference was made.

Seven is a modern classic that will hold a place in motion picture history as the turning point in the crime/thriller genre and should also be holding a place in any serious film fans collection.