During the last rain-drenched week before his a retirement, a weary city detective (Morgan Freeman) takes a new unseasoned, hotheaded transfer (Brad Pitt) as an astute and diabolically convoluted serial killer begins targeting victims according to the Seven Deadly Sins. David Fincher's grisly and literate police procedural is a great puzzle movie, superbly directed with impeccable, forbidding cinematography even if the ending seems overly morbid and not as clever as the events leading up to it. Freeman is effective (if a bit typecast when looking back) but Pitt is too inconsistent especially during the infamous, crucial, and ultimately laughable finale.
*** 1/2 out of ****
