Seven Pounds movie review

Seven Pounds stars Will Smith as Ben Thomas, an officer with the Internal Revenue Service (or so we are to assume). He appears cynical and jaded. In the opening scene, he is outright cruel.

It turns out that he has taken it upon himself to test the character of others. Are they good people? Are they "slow to react in anger" when he insults them? What is the reason he is judging these people? Well, it is to determine whether they are deserving. But, deserving of what? What can he provide to enrich their lives? Two among them are Ezra, played by Woody Harrelson and Emily, played by Rosario Dawson.

For the majority of the running time of the film (1hr,58min), Smith's character is under the guise of a 'big brother is watching' role with the IRS.

He pretends that what he can provide is a financial pardon from the IRS, to take monetary burdens away. One such person to fail the test is a nursing home administrator deemed responsible for patient neglect.

As Smith's character continues on his quest to find richly deserving people, he does provide help with finances for some but so much more than that for all.

He provides love, consideration, shelter, protection and life. He feels it is his duty to correct former tragedy in his life and the lives of others. The way he goes about it all is an ultimate awful tragedy that (with the exception of an occasional sniffle) silences a theater full of moviegoers. To say anything more would be a huge spoiler.

I give it 4/5 stars****

Rating= PG-13. Screenplay by Grant Nieporte. Directed by Gabriele Muccino (The Pursuit of Happyness). Co-produced by Gabriele Muccino & Will Smith

See a clip at http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi1339360025/