David Fincher is one of the greatest movie directors of his generation. His new film, The Social Network, is a triumph on every conceivable level and speaks to a man who is entirely on top of his game. Fight Club is another of his well beloved and cult generating masterpieces that didn’t see the recognition it deserved until it found an audience on home video. Yet for some reason, the film everyone seems to forget is Se7en. On the surface, it appears as a basic cop procedural, complete with a twisted killer on the loose and family troubles for the brash up and coming cop back home. Even Morgan Freeman is playing a bit of a stereotype, the aged veteran on his way to retirement, brought in for one final bit of police work. Yet what is it that makes this film so much better than all the others? A dynamite director, an incredible cast, and one of the sharpest scripts the genre’s ever known. The twist is one of those classic moments that will affect the viewer on a deeply emotional level, sending your mind reeling into denial and disbelief just as the credits are about to roll. It’s a terrific story, told with a precision and attention to detail that is as inspiring as it is traumatizing. Do yourself a favor, if this is the first time you’re watching the movie, don’t do it alone.

If you’ve been holding out on purchasing a copy of Se7en for yourself, this is the version to get. It looks breathtaking on Blu-Ray, with all of the great black levels and rainy streetlamps rendered with clarity and sharpness that isn’t excessive or prone to artifacts. The transfer is one of the better ones I’ve seen, with every spec of grain clearly visible. Fincher would never let them digitally scrub the movie, and it maintains its theatrical look and gritty feel. The cinematography is one of the highlights of the film, and to say that it’s never looked better is a profound understatement.

The sound design is also world class. They did a complete remix for this release, and I appreciate the attention to detail even more in 7.1 surround. The disc includes an entire special features section devoted to clips from the various mixes that have been done over the years, and the way they have cleaned up and refined the new audio through a direct re-mastering. It’s almost too much information for the average consumer, but needless to say, it sounds as great as it looks.

All that aside, Se7en is not necessarily a film for everyone. It has a terrifying mean streak with plenty of bloody bodies and perverse psychological tortures that work on the audience and the characters simultaneously. You will be disturbed by the film, but the power of the first viewing is an experience unlike

any other. It does what the great classics do, and stays with you long after you pop out the disc and go back to your daily routine. This is the movie that made Brad Pitt a star, and that alone is worth giving it a look. It’s not a modern horror film in any respect, choosing instead to be a chilling look at the human intellect and how people react when faced with the worst humanity is capable of. Honestly, there’s nothing else I can say beyond watch it. There are some things people have to discover for themselves.

Extras:

The disc includes 4, count em, 4 commentary tracks. They include the usually reclusive David Fincher himself, as well as actors Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. The disc comes loaded with a lot of the same extras as previous releases, all in painful standard definition quality. The content more than makes up for the format, however, with a slew of deleted scenes as well as some alternate cuts of the ending sequence. It’s not a completely different ending, just other ways of playing the same footage, so don’t get your hopes up for a different outcome that doesn’t exist. There are explorations of the fascinating Title Sequence, as well as other production notebooks and materials to sink your teeth into. No definitive making-of featurette, but I guess there probably isn’t any behind the scenes footage to support one.