Seven Pounds (2008)

review

There are some movies that manage to grab your attention within the first few minutes and that don’t let go until they end. A very effective way of doing so is showing something which will happen later in the movie. In that respect Seven Pounds immediately had me and I was glued to the screen in this story about one very unique man.

This is a movie that is best watched without any prior knowledge of its story. For those wanting to know though I can tell that it is about an aerospace engineer/IRS agent who decides his cases based on the way they act against him and others. Or at least that’s what it appears to be. As the movie progresses you start to find out what he’s up, while that throat clenching opening lingers in the back of your mind.

Will Smith delivers his best performance I have seen until now, making his character one who’s hard to comprehend, but at the same time compassionate, kind and fragile. Rosario Dawson is also worth
mentioning as she is as stunning as ever and her chemistry with Smith is apparent. Some might think the soundtrack might be playing a bit too much with your heartstrings, but it surely worked for me. Seven Pounds touched me and is a movie which you should definitely give a chance.

16 thoughts on “Seven Pounds (2008)

  1. Interesting review. While I thought Will Smith as fantastic I wasn’t the biggest fan of this film. In fact, a bit of the opposite. It’s been a long time since I saw it, but I remember being ever so slightly bored and finding the whole film a little contrived. It just lacked the emotion I was wanting.

  2. I went to see this on the big screen when it first came out and I can remember that I got pretty bored watching it. Yeah, Will Smith was good but the film spends too long doing things without telling the audience. We don’t really know what Will Smith’s character is up to or why and it just didn’t interest me unfortunately. I do want to watch it again at some point to see if my opinion will change though.

      • I think it is good when films do leave the final reveal until the end when it is done right, but with Seven Pounds the whole lead up to the reveal didn’t really grip me or get me involved or interested enough to wait until the end.

  3. Really liked this film a lot, it was so moving and all the performances were top notch – Will Smith was great, but I did like his work in Pursuit of the Happyness a bit more. The ending was perfect.

  4. I love this movie!!
    When I first saw it, I was bored…that was before I discover the joy of watching drama (you have read it in Inspired Ground how I become a drama lover)…but the second viewing I watch it till end and was blown by how unexpected the ending was.

    • Nice to hear Novroz. I can understand people not liking it as it moves slow, but if you are in the right mood to watch this than it’s an amazing movie.

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  6. While I loved Will Smith in the film, I felt like it was trying too hard to make me emotionally involved. The music, the lingering scenes and the set-up for the story reveal all felt like it was trying too hard to make me cry and feel moved by the film rather than just tell a good story.

    • I didn’t get that feeling at all! But I had that feeling when watching War Horse…I guess it depends on your own mood at the time you watch it.

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