Seven Pounds
Director: Gabriele Muccino
Year: 2008
Stars: Will Smith, Rosario Dawson, Woody Harrelson, Michael Ealy, Barry Pepper
This wouldn't have been my first choice of what to watch at the cinema this week (still waiting to see Revolutionary Road, The Wrestler and Valkyrie amongst others), but as a joint agreed-upon decision between 4 of us, it seemed like a fair enough choice. The film is, mostly, quite good.
The story revolves around Will Smith's character, Ben Thomas, and the effect that a really bad accident has on him. Part love story, part redemption story, the film is, at least for the first half, almost entirely unpredictable. This part of the film I enjoyed - I like not knowing where a film is going, and it's good to see something different in that sense. However, as the film carried on it got more and more bogged down in its own story, and by the end it began to feel like one of those films that you've seen before, with some very clanging cliches.
On the bright side, the ending certainly isn't the standard Hollywood ending, which does it redeem it somewhat. However, it is still, perhaps, overly sentimental - just in a different way. The other positive thing about this film is Will Smith - his performance is excellent, and reminded me of why I enjoyed The Fresh Prince of Bel Air so much, back in the day!
Rating: 4 out of 5
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