SE7EN (1995)

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"Gluttony.Greed.Sloth.Envy.Wrath.Pride.Lust"

Hannibal Lecter, say hello to John Doe. He's your cinematic kin, a killer just as brilliant as you, just as brutal and remorseless. I'm warning you: You may feel ripped off or plagiarized -- as if your lack of soul had been stolen. That's just how things work in Hollywood.

Now stop making that noise -- that wicked hiss that sounds as if you're ready to spew venom. Get over it, 'cause there's nothing you can do about ``Seven,'' a new murder mystery starring Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman as mismatched detectives on the trail of a killer. It opens today at Bay Area theaters.

John Doe, played by an unbilled Kevin Spacey, isn't a cannibal, but a brainy psychopath who elaborately stages his murders and bases each on one of the seven deadly sins. And no, he doesn't feast on his victims with fava beans and a nice chianti (smack! smack!), but leaves the corpses in various stages of rot.

For his first showpiece, J.D. force- feeds an obese man to death and writes ``Gluttony'' in grease on his kitchen wall. ``Greed,'' written in blood, marks the spot where a fat-cat attorney is slaughtered in his showplace home. For ``Lust,'' John Doe forces a man to kill a prostitute with a blade-tipped dildo.

It's ugly stuff, Hannibal -- we're sure you'd approve. John Doe is so clever he never leaves fingerprints, witnesses or any indication of a motive. ``This guy's methodical, exacting and, worst of all, patient,'' Freeman observes.

Freeman, a great actor, plays Lieutenant William Somerset, a veteran cop who's a poet at heart and is appalled by a world that ``embraces apathy as a virtue.'' Burned out from 35 years on the force, he's six days from retirement when John Doe comes along.

Pitt plays his partner, David Mills, a hothead rookie who looks like he copped his style from macho movie theatrics. Unlike Clarice Starling, your nemesis from ``The Silence of the Lambs,'' he's all fire and no wit.

Hell, Hannibal, you'd eat him alive -- no pun intended.

``Seven'' takes place in an unnamed city that's rotting fast, and places the detectives in a stylized underworld. Director David Fincher (``Alien 3,'' Madonna's ``Vogue'' and ``Express Yourself'' videos) used a film-processing technique that deepens tonal qualities and makes whites harsher and brighter. Lots of shadows and silhouettes -- as if the city were blanketed by a sinister shroud.

Placing style above coherence, ``Seven'' glosses over plot points and shows a weakness for cheap, lurid effects. It's not the intellectual's thriller that ``Silence'' was, but it's a good enough ride. And let's not forget Gwyneth Paltrow, Pitt's real- life girlfriend: As his character's schoolteacher wife, she's downright tasty.

We know, Hannibal, how you cherish your throne as the pre-eminent movie fiend of the '90s, so listen carefully to this: John Doe may be a monster for the ages, but he'll never, never unseat you at the Hall of Shame. Or take your place at the dining table.