They bicker and bond--a wise, weary detective (Morgan Freeman) in his last week before retirement and an eager kid (Brad Pitt) fresh from the country and ready to kick some big-city butt. Police partnerships don't come any lower concept than this. On the other hand, the serial killer they are pursuing, a creepy, brainy religious fanatic played by Kevin Spacey, is a high-concept kind of guy: he's trying to commit seven murders in seven days, each of them supposed to illustrate one of the seven deadly sins in some preposterously stomach-churning way.
Luckily, the setting for Seven (the title is the...