The film has a score of 65 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 22 critics' reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Empire's 2008 poll of readers, Hollywood actors, and key film critics ranked Seven at number 134 on its list of the 500 Greatest Movies of All Time, while Time Out's 2022 staff poll ranked it number 87. Seven was also highlighted by critic Roger Ebert in his series, The Great Movies, in 2011, and it is included in the film reference book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die. In the 2020s, MovieWeb and Stuff called Seven one of the most memorable and "quintessential" crime thrillers of the 1990s, representing a high point of the genre and filmmaking for the decade. In a 2015 interview, Walker said that he remained proud of Seven despite criticisms from some audiences.
Fincher wanted Mark Romanek to direct the sequence, being a fan of his music video for "Closer" and sharing similar design sensibilities, but Cooper secured the role because of his previous experience on similar title sequences. The sequence was well-received by executives, who suggested retaining it for the theatrical release. In the opening scene, Walker portrays a corpse lying in a pool of blood; he said the blood was very cold and he had a minor panic attack once in place because he was worried about moving and ruining the shot. For Schanz's pride victim, Fincher added blood to her while her nose was taped to the side and her face was covered in gauze. Bottin's team spent 11 days experimenting on the aesthetic and prosthetics for the sloth victim. For the gluttony victim, Mack spent up to 10 hours a day having makeup and prosthetics applied.
Pitt believed this caused the scene to lose its momentum, affecting the pacing and emotion. Lights with green color gels were shone through the window from the adjacent building to impart the scene with a green tint. For scenes set prior to the chase, Pitt would keep his hand in his pocket or otherwise obscured to hide the injury.o
In 2011, IFC ranked the sequence as the third-best-ever behind those of Vertigo (1958) and A Hard Day's Night (1964), and its style can be seen in the opening credits of films such as Red Dragon (2002) and Taking Lives (2004). In audience-voted polls, Seven has been listed at number 15 (2006), 30, and 37 (2023) on lists of the greatest films conducted by the publications Total Film and Empire. Some, like Professor Jeremy Tambling, find allegorical links between sins and murders to be forced, questioning Doe's embodiment of envy and representing lust through the victimized prostitute. Doe's portrayal as an aesthete-killer draws comparisons with characters like fictional killers such as Hannibal Lecter, yet Doe does not define himself by high culture, surrounding himself with his own art.
- Film scholar Amy Taubin described the city as an infection point for corruption, in which signs of violence and decay are omnipresent in its dark corners, rain, television reports, fights, screams, and children in impoverished apartments.
- Bottin's team spent 11 days experimenting on the aesthetic and prosthetics for the sloth victim.
- The ending was scripted to take place directly beneath transmission towers, a location Doe selects to interfere with the police communications; the towers, however, interfered with the film crew's radios and the actors had to use cell phones to communicate with the crew from afar.
- The final scene with Mills, Somerset, and Doe, had inconsistent lighting because the actors were always lit from behind by the sun regardless of their placement in the scene.
- The studio's marketing president Chris Pula called the advertising campaign for Seven risky because it had to prepare people for the film's dark, violent content while making it a topic of discussion among potential audiences.
- One segment had to be re-filmed because the location was too dark for the camera to capture Freeman's face.
- In the 2020s, MovieWeb and Stuff called Seven one of the most memorable and "quintessential" crime thrillers of the 1990s, representing a high point of the genre and filmmaking for the decade.
Pitt and Fincher were unhappy with the car-ride scene leading into the ending because the dialogue had to be overdubbed after too much ambient sound had been picked up during filming. Freeman preferred a storyboarded sequence of Somerset killing Doe, sparing Mills from losing his career as well, but Pitt believed Mills had to kill Doe and test audiences preferred that version. According to Fincher, the screening invitation only told audiences that the film would feature Pitt and Freeman, both of whom were known for films very different in tone to Seven. Walker was on set throughout filming to provide suggestions or on-spec rewrites but did not give Fincher much input, believing he should adapt the script as he wanted. He envisioned William Hurt playing the character but Fincher cast Freeman after the suggestion by Kopelson; the studio was concerned pairing a black detective with a white one would make Seven seem derivative of the action film Lethal Weapon (1987).
Studio executives were opposed to the script's bleak conclusion, insisting on a more mainstream and optimistic outcome. Walker, an aspiring writer, based Seven on his experiences of moving from a suburban setting to New York City during a period of rising crime and drug addiction in the late 1980s. Seven (often stylized as Se7en) is a 1995 American crime thriller film directed by David Fincher and written by Andrew Kevin Walker.
In discussions with Michael De Luca, New Line Cinema's president of production, both shared a preference for the original script. New Line Cinema sent Fincher an up-to-date draft in which Tracy survives but Fincher insisted on directing the original script. In a 2017 interview, Walker said he felt he was ruining his script and should have left the project. To lead the project, Penta Film hired director Jeremiah S. Chechik, known for his recent success directing the comedy film National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989) and seeking a more serious project. In the early 1990s, Italian company Penta Film it, under manager Phyllis Carlyle, optioned the script.
Cat Mueller portrays the lust victim, a sex worker who is impaled with a bladed sex toy, and Heidi Schanz appears as model Rachel Slade, pride, whom Doe disfigures. Seven also features Julie Araskog as Mrs. Gould, John Cassini as Officer Davis, Reg E. Cathey as Doctor Santiago, Peter Crombie as Doctor O'Neil, Richard Portnow as Doctor Beardsley, Richard Schiff as Mark Swarr, and Mark Boone Junior as a "greasy FBI man". Somerset intercepts the vehicle, whose driver was instructed to deliver a package to Mills at this specific time and location. Doe leads the detectives to a remote location far outside the city limits, where a delivery van approaches.
Seven's city is presented as a blighted, decaying zone of unfettered criminality and vice, echoing a reactionary view of urban problems concerning segments of the contemporary American middle class. Film scholar Amy Taubin described the city as an infection point for corruption, in which signs of violence and decay are omnipresent in its dark corners, rain, television reports, fights, screams, and children in impoverished apartments. A seven-issue comic-book series was released between September 2006 and October 2007 by Zenescope Entertainment; serving as a prequel to the film's events of the film, the comic book focuses on Doe and the planning of his crimes. A novelization of Seven that was written by Anthony Bruno was released alongside the film in November 1995. A theatrical re-release took place exclusively in IMAX theaters for one week only beginning January 3, 2025, followed by a 4K Ultra HD Blu-Ray release on January 7, 2025 for the film's 30th anniversary.
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- Walker believed his thriller about police officers pursuing a serial killer driven by the seven deadly sins would attract attention and help begin a professional writing career.b
- Although there is mention of some acquaintances, Somerset tells Tracy that those who spend time with him find him disagreeable.
- This distinction is attributed to its bleak and seldom matched ending, as well as its stylized reality devoid of popular culture references or technological emphasis, ensuring it does not reflect any particular time or place.
- Set decorator Cat Mueller portrayed the lust victim after Fincher's assistant said she had the personality and body to portray a dead prostitute.
- Fincher's public image had also been tarnished by the failure of Alien 3, and although Freeman and Pitt were proven stars who were capable of attracting audiences, New Line Cinema struggled to capitalize on Pitt's popularity.
- Freeman preferred a storyboarded sequence of Somerset killing Doe, sparing Mills from losing his career as well, but Pitt believed Mills had to kill Doe and test audiences preferred that version.
- Author Adam Nayman presents a critical view of Seven, suggesting that the film elevates Doe as a figure with valid societal critiques.
Fincher preferred Paltrow but initial discussions suggested that if approached she would not be interested in a film with a dark tone like Seven. Robert Duvall, Gene Hackman, and Al Pacino rejected the role.k The script was further modified after Pitt's and Freeman's castings to better match their acting styles; Mills was made more verbose and Somerset's dialogue was reduced, and made more precise and direct. Kopelson and studio executives continued efforts to lighten Seven's tone and change the ending.h Fincher was resistant to any changes, and was unwilling to compromise his creative control and vision.
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Pitt returned to the set a few days later, having received stitches and a forearm cast, which had to be written into later scenes. Pitt insisted on performing his own stunts for the scene; he slipped on a rain-slicked hood, crashing through the windshield and sustaining seven casino injuries including cut tendons and nerves in his left hand; Fincher said he saw exposed bone. One segment had to be re-filmed because the location was too dark for the camera to capture Freeman's face. The studio was unhappy with the darkness of the dailies; Khondji suggested printing the footage brighter but Fincher refused to compromise. Khondji used a mixture of lighting, using the warm light of Chinese lanterns to represent the past and present, and the cold light of Kino Flos to represent the future.
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Of particular focus is the Divine Comedy which depicts seven terraces of purgatory, each relating to an individual sin, and the nine circles of hell.al Professor Steve Macek interprets the unnamed city as an allegory for the hell in the Divine Comedy. Doe strategically conceals a crucial clue to his plot at the greed murder scene by turning a piece of art upside down, a detail discernible only by someone versed in art, and reflecting the city's own upturned status. Doe creates order by filtering literature about the seven deadly sins and works by authors such as John Milton through a lens of religious fanaticism.
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Contemporaneous reviews were generally positive, praising the performances of the central cast and the ending. Seven garnered middling test audience results and was not predicted to perform well due to its violent and mature content. Fincher, determined to re-establish himself after a career setback with his directorial debut Alien 3 (1992), was mistakenly sent Walker's original script and, convinced of its merit, committed to directing the project if the original ending remained intact.
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Somerset tries to create order using the ticking of a metronome to disguise the disordered noise of sirens and screams outside his apartment.ai Dyer wrote that Somerset's smashing of the metronome signifies his acknowledgment of the city's darkness. Thompson observes that Tracy, unlike Mills, possesses a more discerning perspective, having already concluded that the city holds no promising future for her family and expresses her desire to return to their home outside its borders. The narrative thus reinforces the notion that the city is trapped in a temporal loop, condemned to endlessly repeat cycles of sin and corruption without the prospect of liberation or escape. Professor Kirsten Thompson characterizes the city as devoid of temporal or spatial markers, with an absence of recognizable elements like street signs, costumes, or specific vehicles that could provide clues to its identity. The city's bleak aesthetic implies a moral decay and indifference by its inhabitants that enables Doe's plan, which can be considered akin to the sloth sin.ah
Writer Andrew Kevin Walker makes a cameo appearance as a corpse Somerset investigates during the film's opening scene; Morgan Freeman's son Alfonso appears as a fingerprint technician; and columnist George Christy portrays the police department janitor scraping Somerset's name from his door. The police investigate the apartment, finding a large amount of money, hundreds of notebooks, and photographs of some of his victims; the cache includes images of Somerset and Mills by a person they believed was an intrusive journalist at the sloth crime scene. A remark by Mills inspires Somerset to research libraries for anyone checking out books based on the seven deadly sins, leading the pair to the apartment of a man known only as John Doe. Clues at the scene lead Somerset and Mills to the sloth victim, a drug-dealing pederast whom they find emaciated and restrained to a bed.
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The helicopter scenes were also filmed in post-production because there was no time during principal photography; the studio agreed the provision of extra time and funding for additional scenes if they were deemed necessary. Set in an unnamed, crime-ridden city, the narrative follows disenchanted, nearly retired Detective Lieutenant William Somerset and his newly transferred partner David Mills as they try to stop a serial killer from committing a series of murders based on the seven deadly sins. They soon realize they are dealing with a serial killer (Kevin Spacey) who is targeting people he thinks represent one of the seven deadly sins. A serial killer on the loose uses the seven deadly sins as inspiration for his murders.
