Seven Pounds (Bluray Review)

Main Feature

There was a time when Will Smith struck me as little more than a black Keanu Reeves. If you look at their careers side by side there are certainly strong similarities. It could be argued that Will Smith’s comedic Fresh Prince character is a more evolved version of Keanu’s Ted Logan. Both actors had a chance to run around playing cops in the buddy movies Bad Boys and Point Break. They each have a special effects blockbuster on their resume in the shape of I Robot and The Matrix. There is however one major difference between the two stars and I don’t mean the colour of their skin. Will Smith is a fine actor.

Anyone who has seen the remake of Sweet November (although you may not realize there exists an original version) can testify that while Reeves puts in a reasonable performance he was very lucky to star opposite the talented Charlize Theron. While watching Seven Pounds I couldn’t avoid thinking of this as Smith’s Sweet November and while this had more to do with the emotional performance than the story there are some narrative similarities.

Smith plays Ben Thomas and, in something which echoes Sweet November in many ways, an unlikely love interest appears in the form of Emily Posa who is played by the wonderful Rosario Dawson. Both performances are fantastic and really pull at the heartstrings to the extent that even if you realize that clever emotional manipulation is occurring you are almost powerless to avoid being sucked in. The supporting cast, which includes Woody Harrelson as Ezra and Michael Ealy as Ben’s brother, don’t have much on-screen time in what really is the Smith and Dawson show but they do a good job when asked to.

I want to avoid giving away any major plot elements but one thing I can say is that Ben Thomas is a man on a mission and has very clear objectives in his mind. The problem with the secretive story is that for the first forty plus minutes I had no idea what was actually going on and if I wasn’t so used to watching films this may have annoyed me enough to turn it off. A perfect example of a scene which had me confused, and to be honest wasn’t properly explained at any point in the film, is the early phone conversation between Ben and Ezra. Ben throws some really nasty comments at a completely innocent and upset Ezra and when Ben’s explanation finally comes near the end of the film it fails to justify his actions and really doesn’t make any sense.

Extras

Besides the Director’s commentary, which helps convey the passion Gabriele Muccino has for the film, there are five separate extras. “Seven Views on Seven Pounds” offers the views from the Writer, Producers, Director, Location Manager, Designer, Editor, and Composer, with a few minutes on each. “Creating the Perfect Ensemble” focuses on the Casting Director’s role in finding what they considered to be the perfect cast for the film.

There are two interesting short documentaries, “The Box Jellyfish: World’s Deadliest Co-Star” and Emily’s Passion: The Art of the Printing Press”, which take a step outside the story and provides some background information on exactly how deadly the Box Jellyfish can be and puts Emily’s Printing Press into historical context.

This leaves us with the obligatory “Deleted Scenes” and it’s easy to understand why those scenes failed to make it into the film and their exclusion certainly didn’t harm the story.

Summary

I had mixed feelings on the main feature given that it confused me for some time yet ultimately managed to tick the right boxes when it came to emotional performances. Will Smith and Rosario Dawson are fantastic and the chemistry they have on-screen really makes the film what it is. The rating was in the balance and the couple of interesting and unexpected documentaries are what ultimately tipped the scales.