How far would you go to assuage your guilt?

 
This is the question raised by the film “Seven Pounds”, starring Will Smith, Rosario Dawson and Woody Harrelson.

 
Consider if you will the words “I am sorry”. While they convey the intent of apology, they fall far short of reparation for a wrong having been committed. There are times in our lives when we must – in order to call ourselves human – do more.

 
Will Smith portrays Ben Thomas, an IRS agent with a secret, who devotes his time and energy to changing the lives of several strangers in a journey of redemption. During his quest for penance he meets and comes to love a young woman (Rosario Dawson) with a heart condition who reignites his humanity as he brings about changes in her circumstance that allow her to live fully once more.

 
As a morality tale, this movie is just a bit self-indulgent, using a convoluted structure to showcase incidents which eventually thread together in the finale, when all becomes clear. The somber tone does get a bit heavy, but Will Smith is such a likable movie star that we, as an audience, are willing to go along for the dark ride, just to see how it comes together. Melodrama is difficult to do well, and Smith proves in this film that he is in fact a movie star, rather than an actor. Throwing away his goofy, Smith settles for stern and serious.

 
Dawson, for her part, mines the tragic nature of her Poe-like character and comes up with depth and humanity, her bluish cast and dark eyes adding a layer of fragility to her stunning good looks.

 
The conclusion of the film can be seen by some to be maudlin, this reviewer included; however, having waited for the culmination moment, we can hope that instead of seeing a movie star chewing the scenery we see a human in moral and ethical pain. Moreover, we are not disappointed. Despite learning everything you need to know to guess how the movie will end in the first ten minutes or so, this reviewer felt a pounding on my heart at the culmination, and when the final lights went up in the theater, a momentary rest was needed to pull myself together sufficiently to exit the theater. Surprise twist is not the desired effect here; the movie’s magic is all in the execution.

 
Not that it is perfect. Any movie about death and taxes (literally) is likely to be maudlin, and this one is no exception. At times it felt a bit like a secular Hollywood passion play, and the audience is manipulated a bit by the plotline, (see what we did there?) but the resultant payoff leaves little room to doubt that Smith’s character is a man of extraordinary compassion, insight, and self-sacrifice.

Based on Russian writer Sergei Lukyanenko's novel of the same name, the film only tells a small part of that original story, but director Timur Bekmambetov takes this small part and does amazing things with it. The movie is a true epic.

The Light Other and Dark Others, humans who possess all manner of supernatural abilities, maintain a centuries old stalemate for the sole reason that both sides are too equally matched. The two groups met in battle once before and it nearly resulted in the total destruction of all those of the Light and the Dark. Gesser, Lord of Light and Zavulon, Lord of Dark realized that the only way to preserve the lives of all Others was to create the Truce, which abides to this day and age.

As per the agreement, if a person should discover that they wield the powers of the Other they cannot be forced to choose Good or Evil. They must come to this decision of their own free will. This is how the central and pivotal character of Anton Gorodetsky is introduced.

Back in 1992 young Anton pays a visit to an old woman who is a witch. A woman he had been seeing and who is now pregnant has recently left him for another man. Anton asks the witch to enact a spell that will kill the developing fetus in the young lady's womb and induce her to leave this new man. The old woman appeals to him to consider the implications of what he wants but he tells her to go ahead with it anyway. But before she can complete the spell a team of Light Others intercedes and arrests her.

In the ensuing struggle a strange thing happens to Anton. He seems to slip into another dimension where he witnesses the Light Others engaged in supernatural combat with the witch. The stress of the situation has activated the powers of the Other in Anton.

Jumping forward to 2004, Anton is now a pitiful drunk living in a small, filthy apartment and working for the Light Side as a tracker. He receives a call to locate a young boy who has been psychically lured away from a public pool by a pair of vampires. He manages to find and rescue the boy, Yegor, but one of the vampires is killed in the process. And from this one simple incident Anton sets in motion events that will lead to a catastrophic confrontation between Light and Dark once again.

There is a prophesy that has existed since the precepts of the Truce were laid down that day will come when an Other more powerful than any before will appear and, should this one choose Light or Dark, will shift the balance of power forever.

There are many brilliant camera and visual effects throughout the film, such as some neat tricks done with subtitles and there are very good-looking and plentiful, but not excessive, CG effects. Some of the most interesting effects sequences in the movie feature the Gloom, another realm that the Others are able to slip in and out of at will which allows them to vanish seemingly into thin air and pas through walls and locked doors. This is the place into which Anton shifted when he became an Other. The Gloom is a living thing that can consume those who spend too much time within it.

Even in the midst of all of these outlandish and occasionally gruesome proceedings there is an important message to be found. The original novel and, by extension, the film are very concerned about the nature and quality of Good and Evil and ask the viewer to keep in mind that those who are quick to rally to the side of so-called Good are not always as moral as they claim, nor are those who are labeled Evil always as corrupt as they seem.