Se7en

Before films like Zodiac and The Social Network earned him auteur buzz, David Fincher was an ex-music video director with a middling output, mixing a bleak visual style with hamfisted direction. Fight Club remains extremely divisive, and Alien 3 and Panic Room have few fans. Groggy will never forget The Game (1997), a carefully-constructed thriller sabotaged by a twist ending worthy of R.L. Stine.

The one early Fincher movie most people like is Se7en (1995), a grisly serial killer saga that tries to one-up The Silence of the Lambs in grotesquery. It's a slickly made genre product, with good acting and stylish direction covering a thin plot and shaky premise.

Grouchy old cop William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and his testy new partner David Mills (Brad Pitt) investigate a series of gruesome homicides. A serial killer is targetting victims who have committed the Seven Deadly Sins, slaughtering them in appropriately grotesque fashion. Somerset and Mills cultivate a friendly relationship, though Somerset learns that Mills's wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow) isn't exactly satisfied with life in the big city. Things take a bizarre turn when the killer (Kevin Spacey) turns himself in, hinting that there are further victims to uncover - saving the nastiest twist for last.

Se7en certainly gets points for style and atmosphere. Fincher and photographer Darius Khondji craft a memorably nasty atmosphere, a rotting city filled with bums, cockroaches and corpses. None of the murders are actually shown, but the hideous aftermaths (mutilated corpses, swarming bugs, hideous murder weapons) are disgusting enough. Individual set pieces work wonderfully, even if the internal logic is phony. On a visceral level, Se7en is extremely engrossing.

The surface gloss covers up a fairly shaky film. Fincer and writer Andrew Kevin Walker frame their intriguing premise in an implausible fashion; John Doe's Machiavellian tortures make the Joker look like a petty thug. Somerest and Mills' partnership plays like warmed-over Lethal Weapon, probably not the comparison a horror film desires. Even the ghoulish ending doesn't make much sense upon reflection: an innocent person dies, hence negating the killer's own rules. Its shock value, however, negates logical considerations.

Morgan Freeman is perfect for the world-weary Somerset, a far more interesting role than his poor man's Poitier schtick. On the other hand, Brad Pitt is supremely annoying. Pitt overacts like a 9th grade drama student, showing none of the subtlety or self-effacement of his recent turns. Kevin Spacey is wonderfully chilling, making his absurd villain almost believable. Gwyneth Paltrow registers strongly with minimal screen time. Strong support comes from R. Lee Ermey (Full Metal Jacket), Richard Roundtree (Shaft), John C. McGinley (Platoon) and Richard Schiff (TV's The West Wing).

Se7en is a well-made but fairly routine thriller. The movie requires more suspension of disbelief than your average sci-fi film, but on another level it's a morbidly engrossing spectacle.