Se7en
David Fincher's broody Se7en might not pack quite the punch it once did, as shock fades with time and subsequent viewing, but it is still far superior to its thriller/serial killer/mystery contemporary peers.
The plot device – a killer ensuring the Seven Deadly Sins of the bible are just that – is completely unique in a normally stale genre, but in hindsight it seems like such an obvious idea for a thriller that you wonder how it wasn't done before. This idea alone was never going to make a great film – all movie serial killers have a motif, a master plan, a God complex – what makes this film memorable is a superb script that chooses wisely to keep the audience as much in the dark as the detectives are and keeps the twists fresh and cunning (I'm still blown away by the moment where the killer gives himself up, it's the moment you realise the usual genre rules do not apply here), great direction from David Fincher, who finally married the gritty frantic style he showed in Alien 3 with some great material, and some greatly nuanced performances all round. Yes, even from Gwyneth.
Brad Pitt's nervous energy and all-too human responses to the crimes are critical to the film, culminating in the notorious ending, and it is this performance, and his one in Fight Club, another David Fincher film, that I point to when people bring his acting skills into question. Morgan Freeman's performance as a world-weary detective is great, but sullied slightly by his subsequent appearance as a very similar character in the adaptations of the novels by James “Nursery Rhymes Make Scary Titles” Patterson (Kiss The Girls and Along Came A Spider), while Kevin Spacey makes use of every second of his small but obviously pivotal role. I love every second of the car ride into the desert. Such a fucked up calm before the storm.
The crimes scene are disturbing and grotesque, and the mind of the killer horrifically zealous and righteous, and, most scarily of all, not unimaginable in the real world, but Se7en is, and always will be, remembered for its ending. Such a perfect ending that even though you had no idea it was coming, you realise after it couldn't have happened any other way. It's also an ending that gives me a silent satisfaction after being duped and actually paying money to see Shakespeare in Love, but that's a whole ‘nother thing really.