MovieChat Forums > Se7en (1995) Discussion > is it just me or was Detective Mills an ...

is it just me or was Detective Mills an idiot?

posted 7 years ago by [deleted]
13 replies | jump to latest

He came off to me like an overly impulsive child who never knew when to think straight or keep his mouth shut. Right at the start of the film, when he and Somerset are investigating the guy who ate himself to death, Mills seems to have this constant need for attention with the way he rambles on about some useless, unrelated murder case that happened in the past and when Somerset tells him to go fetch the forensics team, Mills has to take a moment to shine a flashlight at his face to show him how he feels about being having to take orders from a veteran in the field. And then for whatever reason, having to read a book that features poetry seems to put him into so much frustration to the point where he winds up throwing the damn book against the windshield and then acts like a fidgety child at the station later when he is told to wait till John Doe strikes again. I can probably list off a few more examples but I'll stop here. Either way, did it come off to anyone else but me that Detective Mills was a bit of an idiot? I get that he's meant to be a bit hot-headed and impulsive, but there are times where he just comes off as being straight up immature and childlike to me. Such as how just reading the word "bondage" seems to trigger a reaction out of him thinking that it's a reference to BDSM. Seriously, was anyone else bothered by this?

[–] Philhelm (502) 2 years ago

At the very least, he didn't seem very book smart. He was clearly bored when Somerset took him to the library, and he didn't seem familiar with names such as the Marquis de Sade, Thomas Aquinas, etc. (although it's possible he was being dismissive by intentionally mispronouncing the names, such as Little Bill Daggett in Unforgiven - "Duck, I says."). He also seemed to be impatient when Somerset met his FBI contact, so the central theme is that it appears that he didn't enjoy actually investigating things which means that he probably chose the wrong career.

[–] looper007 (1158) a year ago

He always seemed to me to be over his head especially in a city that is as dark and grim as the one Se7en is based in. He's way too implusive, arrogant, not clued in enough to be a great detective too much of a Jock. He's just not got Somerset smarts to really be a great detective. He was probably better working a smaller less crime ridled city. I loved Pitt's performance, Mills is a bit of a dick but clearly isn't a overly bad guy. He's a loving husband and he warms up to Somerset. And what happens to him in the end is awful.

And that's why he was a easy target for someone like Doe.

[–] Darren (1274) a year ago

I think Mills was intended to be rather a stereotype of the working-class cop, not dumb, but certainly not an intellectual, was probably a popular jock in high school. He's a good man, and a brave one, but he's impulsive, impatient, rather undisciplined, and nowhere near as smart as Somerset. Mills might be reasonably intelligent, probably is very street smart, and probably capable of solving most typical murders, but he'd never have caught John Doe on his own in a million years, and proved unfortunately easy for Doe to manipulate.

Somerset, by contrast, is an intellectual, very smart, very erudite, and probably someone who reads authors like Dante or Milton for pleasure. He zeroed in on Doe rather quickly, but even he didn't see Doe's endgame coming.

[–] Druff (1709) a year ago

[deleted]

[–] Druff (1709) a year ago

Mills definitely came off as a bit of a dope to me. Average intelligence at best. I haven't seen the movie in a long time, but I know it pretty well, and I'm struggling to remember anything he did or said that seemed particularly intelligent. He had heart, though.