Will Power

 

 

Will Smith, if his recent string of films are any indication, seems to be the lord of the ‘one-man-conflicting-huge-odds’ genre role. After “I Am Legend” and “The Pursuit of Happyness”, he is back with “Seven Pounds” (directed by Gabriele Muccino, the same man who directed “The Pursuit of Happyness”), a film that purely, and a bit unexpectedly, works because of Will Smith’s presence. He plays a man, Ben Thomas, devastated after losing the love of his life in an accident and tries to atone for what he considers his mistake by trying to make life better for a bunch of seven random strangers using secrets that he knows about them through their tax records. Being an IRS agent he tracks down, among others, Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), a young woman in need of a transplant for her weak heart. The backdrop of the blossoming of an unlikely romance sets the stage for moving performances and a typically sentimental storyline. A fairly straight forward story, the narrative keeps the suspense alive as the audience tries to figure out Ben’s back story and his grand scheme of things. If the slack pace is forgiven and some of the stereotyping and emotional manipulation overlooked, it is a fairly absorbing human drama dealing with fears and hopes we all encounter. But that’s about that. The plot’s slow development can be excruciating at times, and the minimal use of a background score makes it even more so. But like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle, if you have the patience to hold on till the final piece falls into place, you will be justly rewarded with an uplifting experience.