Seven Pounds
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Cast: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Michael Ealy, Barry Pepper, Elpidia Carrillo, Joe Nunez
Rating: (M)
It is in the nature of humans to want things and it does not matter how much we already have, we still want more.
This is perhaps the reason a big-time movie star such as Will Smith feels the need to do a movie like Seven Pounds (Rialto and Hoyts).
Career-wise, Smith has been blessed with much - money and adoration - but now he wants to be taken seriously and hopefully win an Oscar.
Seven Pounds is a serious movie dealing with big themes such as guilt and redemption.
It structures itself as a mystery.
We only get to understand what Smith's character, Ben Thomas, is up to at the film's end.
That might have seemed like a clever conceit at all the script meetings, but after sitting through it I was just bored, confused and annoyed.
The "I see" moment at the end did not really make up for the irritation of getting there.
Ben Thomas is a federal tax agent who is checking up on a group of people, but how much money they owe the government does not seem to be his main priority.
Ben has bigger plans for them and himself.
Once he had another life but his wife died and his priorities changed.
In fairness to the big plot revelation I can not tell you more, but be prepared for heart-warming characters and a tear-jerking conclusion.
For myself, I found that understanding does not mean believing.
Best thing: Smith and Rosario Dawson's on-screen chemistry.
Worst thing: for something so carefully plotted out, it does not make a heck of a lot of sense.
See it with: your brain in neutral.
Smith has enough charisma to keep this afloat as long as you do not start picking at the gaps in logic.
-Christine Powley
