Review: Seven Pounds, 12a, 123 mins.
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Starring: Will Smith,Woody Harrelson, Rosario Dawson
Seven Pounds is a thought provoking film, though it may not capture you entirely whilst in your cinema chair, it will lead you to have many interesting debates with your housemates when you get in.
It begins with Ben Thomas, aka Will Smith, on the phone to the emergency services requesting an ambulance. Uncertain of what is going on and when this is meant to have taken place, from there, the mystery slowly and long-windedly begins to unravel. The plot attempts to lead up to a climatic and shocking ending however it fails to hit the mark. The ending appears almost melodramatic as everything comes together in a hurry and this is because the slow-moving plot is unable to capture the disparity of the conclusion.
Will Smith’s performance however as the troubled tax collector trying to pay his own debt back to the society and the universe is definitely worth a watch. The misery on Smith’s face as he portrays the troubled and closed Ben Thomas was to the extent that you were waiting for the sudden torrent of sobs. However, they do not come, and instead we see Thomas on his journey with a mixture of emotion that is almost gripping. Yet only almost.
Be ready for your onslaught of tears at the end of the movie. As confused as you are, few will be able to resist sobbing into their neighbours shoulder as all is, finally, revealed. The romantic sub-plot of the movie in which Thomas falls for a woman who is suffering from a serious heart condition (played by the beautiful Rosario Dawson) helps to keep the plot afloat to an otherwise confusing and almost tiresome film.
