The Se7en is a psychological thriller; however, the movie transcends the thriller genre because the movie isn't fundamentally about catching a killer, it's about the moral corrosion of the people trying to catch him. The movie is directed by David Fincher and was written by Andrew Kevin Walker.
The trailer
The story follows two homicide detectives forced to work together as their careers cross paths. Detective William Somerset, a weary, intellectual veteran who was seven days away from retirement, was deeply disillusioned about the city's apathy and crime, and Detective David Mills, an ambitious, hot-headed young transfer who was eager to make a name for himself.
This duo was assigned to a gruesome murder case that quickly revealed itself to be the work of a highly methodical, religiously motivated serial killer. He was targeting individuals who embody one of the seven deadly sins (Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Lust, Pride, Envy, and Wrath). As detectives tracked the murders from one ugly scene to another by interpreting obscure literary and theological clues hidden in Dante's Inferno and Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, the investigation became an exhausting psychological battle.
The ending of David Fincher's Se7en is widely regarded as one of the most shocking, bleak, and meticulously executed conclusions in cinematic history. It delivers a devastating psychological checkmate that redefines the entire narrative. Midway through the movie, the killer identified himself as John Doe. He mysteriously walked into a police station covered with blood that wasn't his own and surrendered himself. He offered a bargain to the detectives: he would confess to his crimes and lead them to the final two bodies, otherwise he would plead insanity and avoid execution. The detectives agreed.
When they arrived at the designated place, a courier dropped off an unmarked package and ran off. Detective Somerset opened it and discovered it was Detective Mills's pregnant wife Tracy's severed head and desperately tried to stop Mills from finding out. John Doe revealed his motivation behind it (Envy) and provoked Mills until he killed him, thus fulfilling the killer's final prophecy.
Here is the psychology behind John Doe's murders: John Doe is not motivated by standard serial killer tropes like personal gratification, sexual deviance, or financial gain. Instead, his crimes operate as a grotesque, extremist moral crusade and performance art piece directed at a world he views as completely rotten.
He views modern urban society as hopelessly saturated in sin, selfishness, and moral decay, and his killings were a wake-up call. By structuring his murders around Dante's Inferno and medieval theological definitions of the Seven Deadly Sins, he saw himself not as a murderer but as an Old Testament instrument for divine punishment. Every victim's death mirrors the nature of their sin (e.g., the glutton is forced to eat until his stomach bursts). Finally, the ultimate thesis relies on his own death to complete the artwork. He recognized that his own sin was Envy. By provoking Mills to kill him, he completed the circle.
John Doe wins because his death seals his legacy. He wanted to force the world to look at its own ugliness, and in his final moments, he successfully dragged a good, righteous man down into the mud with him.
The weakness of the movie would be that the film is intensely dark, pessimistic, and relentless in its depiction of human cruelty, which can make it emotionally exhausting or difficult to watch for audiences seeking a lighter or hopeful resolution. The strength of the movie relies on Andrew Kevin Walker's script, which turned a standard cat-and-mouse chase into a thematic debate on whether society can still be saved from its own depravity.
The movie is worth watching. Watch it and judge whether the killer's cynical point about human nature is quite convincing.
Rating: 85/100
