I had watched the trailer to Seven Pounds, which has Will Smith mulling around, thinking and talking on the phone in the rain and lots of crying and emotional hoo-ha and hugging this girl (Rosario Dawson) romantically and all that.
So, predictably, I watched this movie with my mind already pre-framed with the notion that it will be a love story cum superhero movie of sorts and maybe a few accidents and cases of infidelity here and there and, hopefully, no aliens.
But when the movie started, I had no clue what was going on. Until the halfway mark, give and take halfway, did I realize that Ben Thomas (Will Smith) was on a mission?
Without giving anything away, the first part of the movie looked and felt a whole lot like 'Matchstick Men'. It was borderline arthouse with the emptiness of the backgrounds annoyingly boring. The focus was definitely on Will Smith as he schmoozed and manipulated situations to his advantage with a sly smile, making it out to be as if he was a conman.
The acting can seem exaggerated at times, but I guess for a man whose nerve and a sense of purpose is so strong, it is acceptable for Will Smith to portray Ben Thomas as he did.
Rosario Dawson plays the love interest (as portrayed in the trailer), but she only becomes rather crucial at the end of the movie. Her role as a sick and struggling hard worker is well acted out. Finally, as you plow through the film, there are a few twists at the end, but nothing an intelligent audience won't see coming.
Watch it to get that warm fuzzy feeling coupled with an utterly confused state of mind. It is a thinking movie so beware if you have a short attention span and are not generally known as someone who can multitask well.
