Yesterday, I sat down and watched the new Will Smith film "Seven Pounds". Since I'm doing this review of a film that hasn't officially been released in theaters yet I'll try not to reveal any vital spoilers in this review. This film is one of many up for Oscar consideration (some of you will get the joke) and Will Smith is clearly swinging for the fences with this one based on the tone of the film and the subject matter.
Ben Thomas is clearly a man with a tortured soul and a mysterious past. He's an IRS agent that seems to be seeking particular people out for some reason or another. Why is he doing this you ask yourself? What exactly is he doing? This search to find worthy people to help seems to be really gnawing at Ben. What's his rush? What happened in his past that makes him the broken person he appears to be?
Ben goes through lists of people provided by his friends and contacts to narrow his list of potential individuals to help and he finds a few that he wants to investigate further. As he digs for clues that help him gauge what kind of people they are (it's paramount that the people he ends up helping are "good") he encounters Emily Posa, a woman with a congenital heart problem that he tries to figure out if she's worthy of helping. It turns out that Ben finds himself developing feelings for her. That poses a serious complication to his plans.
As Ben pores through his resources and connections to find people to help and follows up on his candidates he finds himself becoming more and more sullen and determined to get these things done and help these people. What happened in this man's past that he doesn't want to let anyone into his life or even to discuss his life before now? A few flashbacks give the viewer some brief hints at answers but not enough for you to be able to connect any dots or piece it all together.
Ben is avoiding his family and calling in favors to his friends. The exact reasons are murky at first but things slowly begin to make some sense towards the end. Ultimately, Ben can't stop running from the way he feels about Emily and he lets his guard down a little and opens up to her. He didn't want to get close to her but since she's smoking hot it's really an exercise in futility. He allows himself to feel some happyness (get it?) before he goes ahead with executed his master plan that will help a bunch of good people that really deserve. Especially the woman he has grown to love.
At the end, all is revealed and it made me pretty damn sad but I understood why the main character was adamant in doing all he could do to give these people better lives. I honestly don't know if this film is going to win any awards against some stiff competition this upcoming awards season but I will tell you that this film is actually worth spending some money on. If you like Disney endings then don't bother with it, though. I give "Seven Pounds" a mos def. It opens Friday in wide release, check it out.
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