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.

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Seven Pounds is a powerful, mysterious film, slow to reveal itself, but engaging all the way.  In the opening minutes, we hear Will Smith’s character make a 911 call reporting a suicide – his own – before flashing back to a series of seemingly random, inconsistent, disconnected actions.  He tells us that he has shattered his life, and we see he is troubled and hurt.  A few dream sequences hint at the source of his demise, but we spend the bulk of the next two hours trying to figure out both what it was that shattered his life, and how it affects his resulting actions.

The worst thing I can say about the movie? The camera loves Wills Smith’s face too much.  Whether showing his you-can-trust-me-I’m-a-good-guy smile, or his I’m-in-pain-but-a-good-guy-can-bear-it grimace, the movie attempts to tell too much of the story through the emotions playing on his face.  Nothing wrong with the guy’s face, but there are other ways to express feeling and move the plot along.  As a result, there seems to be some disconnect between the slick, MIT-educated aerospace engineer Smith and the wooden, Forest Gump-awkward Smith who becomes as an IRS agent looking for good people.

Because I heard several people talking about the title after the movie who totally missed it, I’ll give you some of the background.  A “pound of flesh” is what Shylock, the money lender in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice requests and receives as surety for a loan he makes to the merchant Antonio.  When the loan cannot be repaid, Shylock, who has been hurt and insulted by Antonio, insists upon literal fulfillment of the terms of the contract.

Nowadays, someone who insists upon having his “pound of flesh” cruelly demands the repayment of a debt, no matter how much suffering it will bring the debtor. In Seven Pounds, the main character is both debtor and debt collector, deadbeat and loan shark.  And unlike those involved in the recent sub-prime credit collapse, he means to both pay and collect.

It isn’t until the final five minutes of the film that the whole thing comes together.  Now, personally, I like stories that are told from the beginning, but I suppose that art is imitating life here – the only story we know from the beginning is our own, and everything else we ‘know’ is pieced together from what we see and hear as we go along.  My worry here is that too many people will hear about the film and skip seeing it, thinking they have enough of those pieces to understand the conclusion.  In the Internet Age, it’s pretty risky for a studio to think that early audiences won’t blab the conclusion.

What challenges does the movie present?  It raises some powerful questions, questions that get to the core of our humanity:  “Do you consider yourself a good person?”  “How do you tell if someone is a good person?” ” What would be the impact of a life lived for the benefit of others?” ” How far would you go to atone for a mistake you made?”  And, “What does it mean to love someone?”

“Greater love has no one than this…” If the raw emotion of this movie doesn’t kill you, it might make you a better person.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Sony Pictures has revealed three brand new TV spots and photos from Seven Pounds, which stars Will Smith. Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson also starring in the movie.

Here is a little tidbit about the movie itself.

Ben (Will Smith) is an IRS agent who sets out on an extraordinary journey to make amends for a tragedy in his past. In the course of doing so he meets seven strangers including Emily (Rosario Dawson) and inadvertently falls in love with her, thereby complicating his plans. Woody Harrelson plays a blind pianist who befriends Ben.

Seven Pounds will hit theaters this coming December 19th of 2008.