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The Rice Thresher
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Dalton Tomlin **** 1/2 David Fincher is a god of DVDs. Along with other directors like Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, Magnolia), James Cameron (The Abyss, Terminator 2) and Terry Gilliam (Brazil, 12 Monkeys), Fincher ensures that his films will not be forgotten in the land of home video, thanks to deluxe special editions. Last summer brought a two-disc edition of Fincher's Fight Club, which had great video, audio and hours of extras (trailers, deleted scenes and much more). In December, Seven, Fincher's other masterpiece, also got a two-disc release, and it's easily one of the best DVDs ever made. The film was a landmark in the 1990s: Seven and Silence of the Lambs are often lumped together as the best horror/thrillers of the decade. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt star as detectives Somerset, a cop who's seen it all and is just days from retirement, and Mills, an able but cocky newcomer to the New York police force. The mismatched pair is assigned to a gruesome murder case (Seven excels in part because of the realistic gore of its corpses) and soon figures out that the killer chooses his victims based on their violation of one of the seven deadly sins. The mystery builds slowly up to one of the most surprising endings in recent memory. Freeman is outstanding as always, seamlessly bringing the sort of wisdom he brings to every role. Pitt, while not completely convincing (his best performances are in Twelve Monkeys and Fight Club), does bring a certain James Dean-like charm to his performance. Throw in Kevin Spacey as the creepy serial killer John Doe, and you've got three of the best actors of the last decade. The video quality is outstanding - it was created from the original negative, the first DVD made in this fashion. Color modifications were also made in order to match Fincher's original vision. The audio is also flawless, including a DTS track, the best format available. Like Fight Club, Seven has four commentary tracks, one of which includes Fincher, Pitt and Freeman; the other three concentrate on story, video and audio. Other extras include deleted scenes, extended takes, variations on the ending and more. This is just one of those compilations where it feels like everything that could be on it is included. - Dalton Tomlin
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