Film: Seven Pounds
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Cast: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Micheal Ealy
Rating: 2/5
Seven pounds is the poor mish-mash of good deeds, a trifling story and morbid scenes. To be fair Seven Pounds is like an upgrade and rehash of the Sushmita Sen starrer Zindagi Rocks, in spite of that it’s equally bad.
Long story short, Seven Pounds revolves around Ben Thomas (Will Smith) who following an accident and death of innocent people, is out to redeem himself. Trying to correct the wrong he did, he gives new life to a select few who he believes truly needs it.
Eventually he falls in love with Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson) a critical heart patient in need of a new heart. A genius isn’t needed to figure out what eventually happens. The film would like you to believe the unthinkable.
A tepid tale of a predictable character and a horribly confusing plot is what Seven Pounds is. Through the film, with small flashbacks galore and alternating times the viewer is left to figure out things till eventually you catch up with the film.
The film tries hard to make you cry and honestly it is annoying. Sad and remorseful characters, is what the film is flushed with. Honestly that is not a problem but as a viewer till the fag end of the movie you really don’t know what they are sad about and also as a viewer it’s nothing more than an unrelated chain of events till the explanation starts rolling in.
The film tries to pull out all the stops into telling this heartfelt tale of this one man who feels bad and is out to set things right and do good and because everything seems so contrived not once do you board that plane to conviction land. It begins like this mystery about Ben’s life, then moves on to providing answers surrounding it; the how in itself is boring and slow.
One of the greatest problems with this film is the fact that you are trying to sequence it in your head to understand it, the film relies heavily on the odd emotional moments and beyond that there is nothing.
While Pursuit of Happyness directed by Muccino himself starring Smith, was a brilliantly told tale of an endearing character and packed in a ton of emotions, Seven Pounds tries to be somewhat similar but fails.
Another truth about the film is that soon after a few good deeds are done the film begins exploring the same thing thus turning a bit monotonous and even the twists that come your way are no big ones or nothing you wouldn’t have already predicted. Having said all this, the film does have some good moments that make you go "awww" and "how sweet", but these are few and far between. You have to watch the final scene where Dawson and Harrelson meet, thoroughly emotional.
If you must watch the film then it’s only for Smith’s performance. He does a great job and his performance seems real and heartfelt. Dawson as well performs extremely well; she adds the sweetness factor to her character making her immensely likeable. Harelson and Ealy do a fair job at acting their part, but their roles don’t give them the time or the space to shine and sadly that’s the case for all the other actors who appear in the film with short roles. Smith’s character is so overpowering that everyone is sidelined.
Seven Pounds is not the kind of films you walk out feeling happy after watching it, and chances are it was never meant to be so. Watch the film for Smith, but you can seriously wait to do that when the DVD is out.
