Seven (Se7en)

This movie is one of those movies that I don't have any problem writing about and could probably go on days and days about all of the neat things about it. Seven, also known as Se7en, was a very upbeat and intense movie. Combining all of the factors we have been learning throughout last year with an excellent storyline, this movie was one that everyone should see, regardless if he or she is studying film or not.

Maybe it's just me because it is consistent with me for every movie, but once again, I had a hard time getting into the movie in the beginning and figuring out what was going on. I look back at the beginning now and think how in the world did I miss that or not get that. It all connected obviously when I realized the movie was based on the seven deadly sins and murders surrounding the sins. Anyways, as for the storyline, I have to commend the writing and directing cast. This was one of the best storylines I think we have seen on film this year. Taking something the world can really relate to and putting it into context was really neat. Not to mention, the way the storyline was brought across was even better. Once again, this movie had a great set of actors and actresses. From the small parts to the big parts, the whole movie came together very well and was portrayed in excellent to get across a great point.

My favorite thing about Seven was its ability to do something very few modern movies can do. A typical modern movie talks about the same old stories dealing with love and outrageous violence or something of the like, using no sense of good movie technique except for the "Hollywood Way." Seven, on the other hand, went above and beyond that. It applied concepts of movies that have been used in the oldest movies we have seen. It didn't focus on the Hollywood technique but on real film technique. There were quite a few differences I saw but two that I thought were pretty major.

The first that really stuck out to me was that this movie had a theme and storyline that meant something. Instead of focusing on a typical storyline that means nothing at all, Seven portrayed a great theme. Taking the seven deadly sins, something all of us can relate to at some point, and putting them into perspective was a major sign. It even made me kind of think about the things I do that fall under all of those categories; everytime I saw one of the murders and therefore one of the sins, I kind of felt guilty at the same time, knowing some time or another I probably committed that. So, for this reason, the main point is that the storyline and theme had value and wasn't just pure imagination.

The other thing that stuck out to me was Seven's use of technique, especially under the Film Noir category. I saw quite a few similarities to Seven and other movies, but even more under the Film Noir movies. In a typical Film Noir movie, you have a story based in crime, crazy plots and twists to the crimes, a femme fatale (woman causing the downfall of the man), and the story looked at from the criminal's perspective. In each of those facts comes some show in Seven. Seven was a movie based on crime that was definitely crazy and twisted up; this was definitely not your typical murder story nor something we would normally see on the news at night in reference to a murder. I also saw Seven as a movie that we saw from the murder's eyes; we saw his plan unfold and eventually succeed and exactly what his plan was all about. Finally, we also see a mini femme fatale in the young detective himself but also in the young detective's wife. I see the young detective as the femme fatale, except as a man, for the older detective. While the older detective was going through a downtime, when the young detective screws it all up, I see the older detective going down too. At the same time, we see the young detective's wife as the femme fatale because her being caught up with the murder eventually causes the downfall of her husband, who eventually blows away any chance of defeating the criminal.

All in all, I think Seven was an excellent movie to show. I loved it and I think it is a movie that really shows a lot. Not only did it take us on a unique movie ride, but it also did so in a unique way, using things that a typical movie of today rarely uses.

-Kevin