7 Pounds

I took in the movie 7 Pounds Sunday evening, early. I have to admit, I am a Will Smith fan, not every movie, but most. I enjoyed the slow moving Pursuit of Happyness and now own it to see whenever I want, along with his July 4th blockbusters.

Never mind that I got the whole movie plot in the first 3 minutes, which was closely guarded until its release. Even the promos didn't utter a hint of the whole plot.

Here is how I look at movies - I judge most movies by how well they take you into their world of reality and out of yours. Then I look at content, emotional toll or lack thereof, and then entertainment. (I believe movies should suck you in and the aesthetics of the theater should become oblivious to your mind, if not, its a poorly written or shot movie)

Only once did I find myself attracted back inside the theater instead of inside the story when I was viewing 7 Pounds.

So as the movie was unfolding, of course there were subtle plot lines and a few twists of those plot lines. But the major plot line stayed true all the way through the movie. It was a task set before the main character, and before the audience.

I believe the movie is meant to be more centered, more challenging, more intuitive, more grounded in the fundamental human struggle. I found that I was asking myself, if faced with the same situation, could I do that task that was asked of the main character? Could I make it through the tunnel and break out into the daylight? Could I find redemption that was being sought?

A second, heart wrenching observance was thrown at me. My emotions careened at the pureness of the thought. Redemption I found has more than one paradigm.

As the movie moved along its fateful road, I questioned my own ethics and morals. I searched my relationships for some semblance of love. Searched for the meaning of love. I basked in the notion of my love of others, but also, love of myself. What would I do?

Just as I thought I had a sense of this new paradigm, a plot twist was thrown. Of course you knew the plot twist was developing right in front of your eyes, but it was finally brought to fruition and stated in plain black and white. What do you do with it?

I pondered through the rest of the movie. Could the subtle twist of the plot line relieve the overpowering need to solve the redemption question?

Of course I can't reveal the details that answered this question in the movie, but I can leave you with my growing wonderment-- With this new sense of love divulged, was it good enough to overpower the paradigm shift of redemption? Was it redemption? Was it a new definition of redemption? Was it justified redemption -- could you justify it?

Are you wondering--do I recommend it? I always recommend something that will make you do a bit of soul searching. But Will Smith and the rest of the cast do an awesome job too!