Seven Pounds reunites Will Smith with both the director (Gabriele Muccino) and producers of The Pursuit of Happiness, to create another personally focused melodrama.

Smith is introduced as IRS agent Ben Thomas, an emotionally troubled man that is on a quest to make a difference to the world and help some truly deserving people. From the films outset he is dolling out all kinds of help to people that have fallen on hard times and can’t afford to pay the tax man (a welcome prospect in today’s financial climate), but not everyone receives his uniquely generous help, as he goes above and beyond the requirements of an IRS agent in researching the clients backgrounds, and gets fairly angry with anyone he deems less than deserving; including a doctor that runs an old folks home but is less than caring to his residents.

The main focus of the film rests on the relationship between Smith and a woman who is not only is large amounts of debt, but also has a severe heart condition; making her doubly in need of Smith’s help. Their relationship begins when Smith approaches her regarding her tax debts, he then decides that she is a good person and doesn’t deserve to be worrying about debts with her illness, she becomes intrigued with him, and despite his efforts to keep a distance the two grow immeasurably close, as she grows more and more ill.

Without giving too much away, the films climax comes after realizing why Smith’s character is so emotionally damaged, and watching him go above and beyond, what even Bob Hope would do, in an effort to both redeem himself from previous actions and truly help a select group of people he feels are deserving.

The incident that emotionally damaged Mr. Thomas and led to the events of the film are hinted at throughout by a number of short flashbacks that provide brief snippets and clues into his world prior to the beginning of the film. The flashbacks, are supposed to provide seemingly confusing shreds of information, that when pieced together towards the end provide a full account of his traumatic past, however this isn’t the case; it’s glaringly obvious to just about anyone watching why Smith is doing what he’s doing (the title is a bit of a giveaway as well, if you can work it out) and by the time the mystery unfolds and the so-called ‘twist’ is revealed, you will have seen it coming for so long that it simply leaves you thinking “so what.” 

The over reliance on the twist is one of the major things that lets Seven Pounds down, the romantic element, which appears to be the main focus of the story, never really gels with the other side where the viewer needs to ‘work out’ why Smith is doing what he’s doing. It may have worked better if one or the other was focused on more heavily, or better still if it was mainly about Smith’s attempts to redeem himself, how he arrived at the making the decision he has made (something that’s never satisfactorily explained) and the ethical questions that it raises.

Despite the holes in the story the acting remains solid throughout, Will Smith gives a good yet not groundbreaking performance, constantly appearing troubled and tormented by his past, it’s not a very subtle or unique showing, but one that does the job very well. Smith’s love interest is played by Rosario Dawson (Sin City, Death Proof), and while she shines while playing the romantic side of her character, she never comes across as overly sick, which is strange for someone who, as we are constantly reminded, is only one mild sneeze away from burning out her heart and keeling over. Barry Pepper (We Were Soldiers, Saving Private Ryan) plays Smith’s best friend, and pulls off the tragically loyal yet morally confused man who’s just trying to do right by his friend, it’s also nice to see him in another non-army role. Arguably the best acting in the film comes from Woody Harrelson, in a brilliant yet surprisingly brief role as the overly nice blind man that for some unknown reason is berated and stalked by Smith’s character. Woody plays his part excellently, being extremely nice and yet clearly showing that underneath it all he is brimming with hatred and resentment to those who treat him badly, this is a true testament to his acting ability and one that provides a clear case for placing him in more starring roles in the future.

In brief, Seven Pounds is a film that’s likely to maintain interest all the way through, as it never becomes boring, however it suffers from an over-reliance on ‘mystery’ elements and it blatantly obvious twists. Too much is given away too soon, and whilst having only one extremely flat melancholy tone throughout adequately reflects the experiences of the main character, it’s not the best way to tell a story. Cinematography is more than adequate although not outstanding, there’s a decent cast and the acting is solid, but all in all this is one fairly unremarkable film.

Picture:

As you’d expect from any of Sony’s newer major releases, Seven Pounds is presented in full 1080p glory, and it’s a transfer that won’t disappoint. The picture is extremely detailed, and there are several shots (particularly one outdoors scene in a field) that look truly amazing. Blacks levels are superb, being both rich and deep, and whilst the colour does veer slightly to the yellow side of the spectrum (and it is very slight), slightly distorting flesh tones, the contrast remains incredibly good. Seven Pounds is one Blu-ray that, at least in picture terms, most owners will be impressed by.

Audio:

Another thing viewers expect when buying a new Blu-ray release is a quality soundtrack, and once again Seven Pounds delivers, with a Dolby True HD 5.1 track which, like the picture, it’is a fairly impressive one. As this is more of a drama, and focuses on the romance between Smith’s and Dawson’s characters, obviously there isn’t much action; which means that this isn’t really a movie that should be used to test your systems setup. However, the volume, unlike many releases, is perfectly leveled throughout; meaning that not once does sound become overbearing or too quiet to listen to; this is best heard through the dialogue, which is perfectly aligned in the front and center channels, and never even slightly difficult to understand. The score, which fits the tone and individual scenes of the movie exceedingly well, is well worked into the film and spread through each of the channels very effectively, as are the ambient sounds present most notably in the exterior scenes. Overall this is a brilliant soundtrack, not one that’s going to show off your system, but one that’s perfect for the film.

Extras:

The list of extras is fairly standard when compared to most discs, there’s the usual audio commentary (a fairly boring solo effort by director Gabriele Muccino), a standard making of (called Seven Views on Seven Pounds, and consisting of talks from the director, writer, producer, editor, composer, and other crew), around four minutes worth of deleted scenes (all boring and add nothing to the film) and interviews with the cast (called Creating the Perfect Ensemble). There’s also about half a dozen trailers for other films, which is always a welcome addition, and two short features which are pure filler, but interesting nonetheless; one based on the life of the box jellyfish, and another about the art of the printing press. All in all the features are a fairly standard mix, but they’re pretty informative and mostly interesting; the jellyfish feature being of particular note.

The Bottom Line:

Seven Pounds definitely isn’t a film to write home about, rather than action, story or special effects, its main selling point is simply having Will Smith as the main star. The story doesn’t play out as happy, sad or uplifting; it attempts to be a mystery but gives away too much, and every twist, small or large, fails to shock or surprise. Smith’s character says that being unremarkable would be a step up for him, but being unremarkable is exactly the level this film achieves. Avid Will Smith fans may want to rent Seven Pounds, as there’s enough going on to maintain interest for one viewing, but it really isn’t worth a second watch. Sure the extras aren’t bad, sound and picture are both great, but that doesn’t make up for the colossal problems with the plot. It is a good disc, but it’s an ultimately forgettable film.

View The Whole Blog At Movie District

Seven Pounds, Blu Ray Review

Mirrors (Region 2)
A man whom we don’t know is running through a subway, we have no idea why he is running, but he looks scared. He finds his way to a locker room and tries to get out by way of a window, only he can’t. Suddenly the locker doors start to open and on the inside of each is a mirror, the mirrors start to crack and splinter, the man looks horrified, he repeats that he doesn’t want to die over and over before slitting his own throat with a shard of glass… so begins Mirrors.

Ben Carson (Kiefer Sutherland) is a suspended NYPD detective with a recently disowned drink problem who has taken a job as a night security guard in a burnt out department store called The Mayflower. He has taken the job to get back on his feet to provide for himself and his ex-wife Amy (Paula Patton) and Children Daisy (Erica Gluck) and Michael (Cameron Boyce).

He is shown around the place by the day watchman Lorenzo Sapelli (John Shrapnel) however before the end of his first night Ben realises that all is not as it should be. The mirrors show things that are not happening around him. The mirrors become menacing and he realises that there is something malevolent behind the glass. Something that if given the chance will destroy him and his family.

Frenchman Alexandre Aja (The Hills Have Eyes) helms this horror/mystery release and does a pretty good job too… at least in the first half which I found to be excellent in terms of both the tension that is portrayed to the viewer through the fast paced start with the guy running through the subway through to the brilliant set that they used for the actual department store. I found this particularly eerie and was interested to read in the extras that rather than a sound stage a lot of the interior shots were in an old, mostly abandoned building in Romania. This location is excellent in portraying how I would imagine a burnt out department store to look, with ruined counter tops, half burnt and melted mannequins casting a ghostly eye over the charred walls and floors, ash and debris everywhere but with perfectly clean mirrors sitting as a contrast between all the chaos.

It is also worth mentioning that the lighting in these initial shots around the stores are very well executed and really gives us a feel for what this place is. I felt that they really set the tone well. The second half of the film lost a little of what they had built in the first half as the film centred on his estranged family for extended periods of time and the film turns into a chase to solve the clues kinda movie. Whilst not terrible this did cause some of the tension and what I felt was fairly unique about the film to fizzle out a little during the final phases.

Acting wise the film stood up too, I’ve always enjoyed watching Keifer Sutherland and he delivers a convincing performance as an ex alcoholic detective who is suspended for accidently shooting a policeman, quite how he come to shoot a uniformed Police Officer is never explained but as Sutherlands character is portrayed as a good guy then I have to assume it was an accident of some description. But the little bit of back story on this is there to explain why him and his wife are apart at the moment and also explains some of the clue solving later in the movie.

Paula Patton plays his wife Amy, she doesn’t have much to do at the beginning of the film but her role comes more to the fore in the last two thirds, she is a strong, beautiful woman and holds her own against the very good Sutherland also has one of the worst lines in the film when finally realising her husband isn’t a fruitcake and some weird stuff is definitely happening within the mirrors by saying “I should have believed you” and she felt guilty about doubting him. That’s not her fault though, just a dodgy line that should have been removed from the script.

The kids are pretty good in it too, I generally find that kids can be a little wooden in films but these seemed fairly natural and comfortable in their roles, which of course didn’t hurt the movie one bit.

Overall I found Mirrors to be an enjoyable movie, the first half is definitely better than the second, but even falling into a fairly generic movie towards the end doesn’t make it a bad movie. But you won’t be keeping a wary eye on your reflective surfaces afterwards.

The Disc
On inserting the disc you get the option between theatrical and unrated version, nothing else. I went for the unrated version. After you have chosen this you go through to the more familiar menus such as special features, scene selection etc.

Once the disc is in we get play, language, scene selection and special features, language has English 5.1m English audio descriptive audio 5.1 dolby, Italian, castellano. There are also subtitles in various languages.

Extras
Play Theatrical/Unrated Version depending on which option you chose at the beginning.

Deleted and Alternate Scenes:
Here you can play them all or individually either with or without commentary there are 7 deleted scenes and an alternate ending to view. The usual reasons are there for deleted the scenes although they are mainly because they didn’t really add anything to the story.

The sound quality on the alternate ending is a bit naff, obviously not being polished up to release standard something they admit to in the commentary. They had added a few shots and taken a few away, it didn’t really alter the ending, in fact it gave less away about the end so I think the one they went with was the better of the two.

Reflections: The Making of Mirrors:
A decent making of documentary that covers all aspects of production of the film, covering the story, cast, production etc so we get a good idea of what went into the making of the film. An annoying thing here is when the editor speaks as he only speaks French, whereas everyone else does manage English so you will need the subtitles on, but only for a few minutes dotted around the film.

Behind the Mirror:
This extra has some of the actors and crew talking about the general mythology surrounding mirrors.

Weblinks to three fox websites

Ratings for disc overall

Film:	★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Video:	★★★★★★★★☆☆
Audio:	★★★★★★★☆☆☆
Extras:	★★★★★★★★☆☆
Overall:	★★★★★★★★☆☆

View The Whole Blog At Movie District

Mirrors – DVD Review