Se7en
If John Doe's head splits open and a UFO should fly out, I want you to have expected it.
A review by Mike Shea Movie Rating: ( * * * * * ) DVD Rating: ( * * * * * )
The New Line collectors edition of Seven is one of the best DVDs ever made. Not only do you get one of the greatest horror crime movies but you get it in one of the best DVD transfers ever done. In a world of filth and trash, Morgan Freeman track down one of the worst serial killers in history. Extreme attention to every gory detail of the sets, the dialog, and the characters build up a horror crime drama all the way to the tightly knit ending. It's great.
I had the extreme pleasure of taking a young woman to see Seven on our first date. During the movie I was reminded of Travis Bickle in Snow Dogs and even then I preview it myself beforehand for any uncomfortable fart or leg humping jokes. Regardless of the uncomfortable situation, I was still pretty impressed with Seven. Granted, the first thing that came to mind was the horrific imagery more felt than seen, but now years later I find my mind twisting and turning just how well laid out a movie this was.
The real strength of Seven, once you get past the psychological horror, is in the depth of characters. One could look at the two characters as parallels from Anthony Hopkins as Hannibal Lecter.
The DVD for Seven is one of the best ever made. It is a two disc set that includes a 2.35 to 1 16x9 enhanced transfer completely remastered from the original print. It includes both a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX and a DTS ES soundtrack. There are three commentary tracks and a disc full of extras that seems pretty thin until you realize that every one of them has a voice track of the crew. I found the home theater mastering documentary to be particularly educational describing how much work they put into the DVD release. It was very apparent that David Fincher saw the DVD release as true medium of his original movie, the medium it would live on in. With all three commentaries and all the material on the second disc, there is about eight hours of worthwhile material for $22. One could have a full day exploration of this reference quality DVD.
I was pretty excited to watch Seven again after all these years. Each layer of this movie can be peeled back to reveal another layer of depth, from the original story to the characters to the sets and costumes to the cinematography. Its a terror of a movie with not one moment of joy or happiness save a scene laughing about how much life sucks in a brand new apartment under a subway. Yet Seven captures the characters and the story better than most any movie like it. The DVD transfer is one of the best ever done. This is one to buy and be proud of.