The Silence of the Lambs, Se7en, and The Bone Collector reviewed

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) IMDB 8.6/10 ME 9/10

In this film we have the main character who is an FBI agent in training. She is tasked to help find a serial killer with the aid of another serial killer who is a cannibal. She seeks his advice and information on the serial killer she is hunting. For this she needs to give the captured serial killer information of a personal nature. Although reserved and refined, Dr. Hannibal Lector is indeed a monster driven by the desire to dominate and eat the flesh of his chosen victims. The man who the agent (Clarice Staling) is looking for is referred to as Buffalo Bill and has been said to be modeled after a real person. Bill is a truly disturbed person who wants to be a woman, by putting on a skin suit made from actual women he has killed. There is a couple of twists in this movie that should be easy to see coming - however the story is just so darn good, that one can overlook this. The acting is top notch and the script was amazing. There is enough action in it to keep you going, even if you are not deep into the story. It of course ends with the lead-in for more films to come.

The actin was well above par and not many scripts on the topic have been even close to as good as this one. The main character had me hooked, and I felt her desire to become recognized for her achievements and abilities. I was on the edge of my seat the entire movie. I almost never watch a movie more than once, but I've seen this movie 5 times now.

Se7en (1995) IMDB 8.6/10 ME 8/10

This is about two detectives who are looking for a serial killer who is killing people who are guilty of the seven deadly sins. There is a sort of religious element to the way he kills them and the killer taunts the detectives the entire time. The one detective researches the seven deadly sins in order to try and get into the mind of the killer and the reasoning for the murders. The other detective is impulsive and very inexperienced. It's a classic matchup of character types that a vast number of cop type movies have done before and is nothing new at all. This lowers the bar for this movie in my mind. There is a lot of raw emotion felt on the part of the experienced detective as he gets very into the hunt. At the end there is a scene that is referenced a great many times in popular culture (what's in the box) when he is lead by the killer to a location and finds a box. The green detective tries to dissuade him from opening the box to no avail. This movie is left very open ended and open for a sequel. 

The script in this is outstanding and the acting well above par. The tension can be felt all through the film. It feels like film Noir although it's not technically the case. If it was not for how done the interaction of the experienced cop and rookie cop was, I'd have rated this a 9 I think. As above, I almost never rematch a movie, but I've seen this movie 3 times now.

The Bone Collector (1999) IMDB 6.7/10 ME 6/10

This is the most simple of the three plots I find. An ex-cop who is wanted to be terminated (assisted suicide) as he is a quadriplegic and is suffering, is drawn into the case of a killer who takes people and leaves them to die in horrific manners. The recruits the assistance of a woman who is at first rather unwilling, but does the tasks assigned to her anyway. The woman has a lot of issues as her father who was a cop killed himself, and she has thought about the same end for herself. She also is in fear of the killer. The disabled ex-cop leads her along the path of hunting the killer and how to examine the evidence and use it to try and get into the mind of the killer. The disabled Ex-cop has a great deal of knowledge and experience to draw from and is of great help.

There is a good script to this movie but it's not exceptional. The acting is slightly above par I have to admit. The tension is not as deeply felt as the other two movies. It feels very much like this was an attempt to generate a series from the movie to me. I just did not feel it as much as the other two, so I rated it lower. Unlike the other 2, I have no desire to watch this film again.