I decided to conduct a little experiment. Rather than watch the whole movie again front-to-back, I skipped past the Tracy Mills parts. While she’s essential to the story and impossible to delete, her screen time and her purpose in the movie are a real point of contention. There’s no way to make her more integral to the plot, although the climax – which I don’t hesitate to call one of the greatest climaxes of all time – could not work any other way. As for the rest of the film, it was even more spectacular without these pieces. Somerset’s library research trip is still self-consciously slow and the deal with the library card is very dodgy in the writing, but with less actual time spent with Tracy, the serial killer thrills are even more concentrated.
With visuals as pristine as they are moody, this is the film that made Fincher’s reputation, and having just watched Fight Club and fairly recently seen The Social Network I can say this is his best work, though Fight Club has much bolder strokes. The Art Direction brings so much to the table here. John Doe’s apartment could stand as a museum attraction. The devil is truly in the details and the story revels in the step-by-step of each crime scene.
This stands as my favorite Morgan Freeman performance. He likes to put a rough edge to his graciousness, but here he’s often downright prickly. Each story about the inhumanity he’s seen in the city resonates, and there are beats he could play as a protective old-timer but instead gives them a grouchy anger that’s surprising and fitting. Pitt plays off him exceedingly well, avoiding many of the buddy cop cliches built into their partnership. It’s interesting how at the time, Spacey was perfect as John Doe. They cast a great actor instead of a movie star. The performance is still wonderful, and the car ride is one of my favorite scenes in the film (what smart writing), but it’s lost some edge because of Spacey’s presence.
All of that is great. On Top Of That there’s the chase, the revelation about Sloth, the photos Mills finds in the tub, the whole unexpected bit with John Doe before the car ride to the final two victims, that ending and the greatest opening credits sequence ever. (You watch the film a 2nd time and everything about John Doe is right there at the start of the film.)
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