Se7en is a great film
When I was 11 or so my friends and I snuck into Sesevenen (Se7en). I remember being excited that this was an R-rated movie and that we were going to see some cool violence or whatever. However, my main memory of the movie was that it was a disappointing slog. I think at the time I wanted something like an R-rated version of Independence Day, a movie I enjoyed very much. Or stylized violence ala Tarantino, not some film noir I didn’t really understand.
I watched it again recently and it really is a very good movie. The gritty atmosphere of whatever city they’re in is quite pervasive throughout the film - hey, it’s probably NYC in the mid 90s, which was probably as bad as this movie describes it, although I am actually not sure they explicitly stated the city. The acting is great. Kevin Spacey is as creepy as he is in real life, Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman play their parts well (idealistic vs jaded cop), and the whole movie is just so well done. The crimes they are investigating are very, very disturbing. I wouldn’t let Lucas go see this movie at 11 years old. However, the violence did not really make an impression on me, so maybe it wasn’t that bad, or I just didn’t really get it.
The end of the movie is a twist that I saw coming maybe because I remembered it and it was so shocking. But overall, I think that sneaking into Se7en was its own punishment. I really didn’t enjoy or get the movie back then, and I might have been better off just going to Nathan’s and the arcade up in White Plains, or whatever us Bronx kids did in those days..