I like Se7en but I find it a bit over-rated as it is already. Mostly because of glut of sub-par thrillers and horror movies that sometimes slavishly make homages to it. And as pure crime drama, Zodiac makes it look a little amateur in comparison. I'm sure this is preaching to the choir on this, but it made real what Se7en glossed over and it felt way more true to the job of detecting grisly murders and the endless obsession and waiting it entails.knives wrote:I'd switch The Game and Fight Club, but yeah that sounds like what I'd say too. Maybe put Seven over The Social Network though.
That said, there are things I still enjoy about it that make me see why so many people ripped it off. It felt immersive in terms of cinematography and sound design. If you had no idea you were listening to it on a 5.1 system, you'd think you were in the rooms yourself. Howard Shore's music feels like it's emanating from cracks in the walls. And the scene where Ermey picks up the phone in the middle of a scene is still quite funny to watch.
The thing about The Social Network I enjoyed is almost the same thing I enjoyed about The Insider. I felt that film was Mann's attempt, in part, to show he had the directing chops to make a legal/moral drama as intense and exciting as any of his work in the action/crime genre. And with TSN, I can see how it fits in Fincher's world as easily as something like The Game or Fight Club but without the more graphic and profane elements.