Seven Pounds

Seven Pounds

Director:

Writer:

Starring:

Will Smith
Rosario Dawson
Woody Harrelson
Michael Ealy

Quotes:

When looking for words to describe a motion picture rarely would I use the words absolutely amazing. Until seeing "Seven Pounds" I didn't think I would have to, I was wrong. This is a movie that is worth seeing multiple times, I have seen it twice already. Once, Mr. Thomas was a gifted aerospace engineer with a beautiful finance and a lovely beach house. One night a tragic accident changed that forever. The movie gives the viewer enough clues so that they see the plot unfolding, this isn't to say that there isn't a little twist, because there is. Unable to forgive himself Mr. Thomas sets out to change the lives of seven strangers. The number seven is significant to him, it is a reminder of the tragedy that he feels he caused. Will Smith has a brother, the names of the two brothers go hand in hand to the plot twist so I will just say their names once. Tim and Ben, (Will Smith) and (Michael Ealy), Will uses IRS credentials to get personal information of several people on a list. The list means life to one person on each list. Holly Apelgren (Judyann Elder), is a friend of Will's and he asks her for the name of someone in need of somewhere to escape to. She helps him for a reason that is explained at the end. Holly gives Will the name of a woman being beaten by her boyfriend. Connie Tepos (Elpidia Carrillo) and her two children, (Madison Pettis) and (Ivan Angulo) are given the gift of Will's beautiful beach house. One name on Will's list is Stewart Goodman (Tim Kelleher), who Will visits at work to see first hand what type of person he is. Stewart runs a senior care facility, and Will asks one of the patients what type of man he is, what he finds out makes Will so furious, he removes Stewart's name from the list. Opening a door for another man, George Ristuccia (Bill Smitrovich) to get Will's gift. Which we will find out has donated bone marrow. Another name on Will's list is Ezra Turner (Woody Harrelson), who when Will first encounters him, over the phone, he pretends to be a customer, irate over some meat he ordered over the phone. Insulting Ezra repeatedly, at first this seems cruel and unnecessary, but it becomes clear why he is doing it. He is trying to find out if he is deserving of his gift. Ezra is blind, and its easy to see what his gift will be. As is some of the other gifts Will is considering giving away. Will is also following Emily Posa (Rosario Dawson), she is on his list as well, he is trying to ascertain if she should be given the biggest gift of all. Life. One day while Will is at the hospital watching Emily, he sees another young boy suffering from what looks like it may have been a type of cancer, Nicholas (Quintin Kelley), he gets a gift of bone marrow as well, this ends up being fifth gift to be given away. Will has a plan for when he identifies his seven beneficiaries, that requires his best friend Dan (Barry Pepper) to see that his wishes are carried out; because, he will be unable to do so after he is finished finding the seven people. While trying to see if Emily deserves his gift, he begins to fall in love with her. There are several scenes in which he finds ways to get close to her, he pulls weeds from her yard,and  he fixes a machine in which Emily ran a small business off of. They share a scene where they sit in a field, just sitting together, not touching or kissing. Just sitting and talking. You can see the emotions on Emily's face as she falls in love with Will. You can also see the reservations that Will has, he knows what his plans are, and what he has done, he feels alone, and also that he doesn't deserve to have any one care about him again. When Will and Emily do finally make love, it is tenderly and tasteful done. Will rushes back to the hospital to ask Dr. Briar (Gina Hecht) about Emily's chances of getting a heart, the number that she gives him is startling and scary. This enforces Wills determination to give his last gift. He rushes back to a motel where he has been staying, calls his friend Dan, and one final call to Ezra and he makes his final choice. The gifts that Will wanted to give away are in fact given, Ezra gets the gift of sight and Emily gets the gift of life. The fact that the story's plot is so obvious, makes this a better movie that if it had tried to hide it. The exact tragedy unfolds in slow flashbacks, until we see exactly what happened. It turns out that Will's brother was the first person that he gifted. Holly was the second, that is why she was so willing to help Will when he asked her. George was third, Conny was fourth, Nicholas was fifth, Ezra was sixth and Emily was seventh. Never has a gift weighed so much as a guilty conscious. Go see this movie, it will make an impact on you, see it twice if you really need to. It is a gift.

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