Review Rating: 8

Warning! Spoiler Review!

A man with a fateful secret embarks on a final journey of redemption that affects the lives of seven strangers through him.

Despite being made by the same folks who made The Pursuit of Happyness, this movie is very little like that and frankly I am grateful. This really is a truly fantastic movie, a gem of cinema, and if I had seen it sooner, it would have made the 2008 Top Ten List.

Will Smith stars as Ben Thomas, a man posing as an IRS Agent so he can get close to a select group of people for whom he has an ultimate plan. Now, they string this plot out as far as they possibly can, almost right to the very last 25% of the movie, and successfully too. There were moments I thought he was an alien, a la The Day The Earth Stood Still, or perhaps, as Smith’s character did speak of wanting to be an engineer at some point, that he had made some sort of machine that had to be destroyed and only these select people could do it, something like that. Turns out I’m way off, which I actually quite enjoy. I won’t totally spoil the plot, other than to state this: as it was explained to me, seven pounds actually refers to the weight of useful body parts that can be harvested after a person dies. Got that?

Rosario Dawson makes a fine show as the love interest and candidate, Rosa. Most of the movie has her in practically ghoul makeup, but then her character is mighty sick. We have Woody Harrelson as the blind telephone operator, he does a fair job at being, well, rather passive until he needs otherwise. And of course Will Smith, despite our used to him being in fast-talking comic action bits like MIB, delivers a stellar performance as the lead.

You may love, or hate, this movie and it’s premise. However, you will stay glued to the screen to the very end, to find out which!

Collect your Seven Pounds on Hulu now!