If you can believe it Brad Pitt touches his head about 44 times in the movie Se7en. That seems excessive but if you really take note he seems like kind of a nervous guy in the film, not scared nervous but just anxious, like he has a lot of pent up energy at any given time and he just has to either run his hands through his hair during such moments. Detective Mills is after all kind of a hyper guy in a way, he prefers action and isn’t the bookish sort like his new partner Somerset. He wants to be out doing something instead of reading case files, reading books, waiting for an unknown collaborator that Somerset has been working with, and anything that doesn’t have to do with performing his job.
But wait, busy work is detective work, or didn’t anyone tell Mills that? He plays that kind of cop that’s just always on edge, needing something to do and yet never finding it. He’s kind to his wife and he’s even friendly to his partner after a while, in his own way, but he has to have constant stimulation in order to really feel like he’s doing something. The hand on his face while he’s bored is him stating in his own way that he wants something to do, that he feels like his time is being wasted in the current endeavor he’s engaged in. The hands through hair and scratching his face and everything else is just nervous energy that never seems to go away no matter what happens. Mills is just kind of an edgy guy and needs to seriously take a chill pill at some points throughout the movie.
It gets really bad when Somerset decides to give him a bit of literature to brush up on for the killings that have been going on. Remember, Mills is a man of action, not a bookworm. He wants something to do, not something to read. And yet ironically, when he gets into the action finally he gets his face beat in and his life ripped apart by the killer. For all his nervous energy and impetuous nature Mills seems to miss the point that slow and steady at times is highly preferable to the quick and easy route that he seems to favor. It could be that he’s still young compared to Somerset and feels that he’s not doing enough if they’re not doing their job. Or it could be that he’s just that hyper and wants to charge ahead when others are urging caution.
In any case Brad Pitt usually plays a guy that likes action over standing still, but with many characters he’s learned how to adapt rather than allow himself to be typecast in the same manner over and over. With Detective Mills he’s kind of a jerk and that nervous energy is something he can’t possibly control. But the fact that Pitt does this is something that makes the character a little more unique.
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