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Ben Thomas (Smith) was a good happy man, with a girlfriend he could love and confide in. She was the one he wanted, the one he could be with. All of this changes within a minute, Bens life is shattered, broken and all that he knew was lost. His girlfriend died and he was left with guilt for the deaths of Seven people, seven people whose lives he ended on one fateful night. Ben was never able to move on, but he did however try and make up for his own guilt. By drastically changing the lives of Seven people who he felt could use. Ben was a tax collector, a man who could make you or break you. Ben decides it is time for people to get good news. He helps Emily Posa (Dawson) Ezra Turner (Harrleson) and 5 other people. All the while dealing with his own guilt and remorse, while realizing changing seven people doesn’t make up for the seven lives he took. Ben doesn’t ever forgive himself, which leads to some tragic results for those he is trying to help.
Ben Thomas is a man divided by his own thoughts. He is challenging whether or not he is a good person or not. Does he deserve another chance at life, the chance to be happy. Ben is a man that the audience hates to begin with, he comes off as an arrogant jerk at the beginning, but that is easily explained near the end. Ben then goes from the object of everyone’s hatred to the one people will give there pity to. Ben is truly a dynamic character, who changes his views 3 times in less than 2 hours. He is a greatly developed, with characteristics that people can relate to as well as loathe at the same time. Ben hurts himself for the greater outcome, which the makes the audience see him as someone that they dont understand. Some people may even go as far as to say it is impossible to see why he did what he did.
With a character so impressively developed, it seems that there could be no way to make all of this shine through to the audience. Ben seems like that impossible character that one can only dream of playing, but no one could actually handle all that change and different emotion. Ben is handled though as perfectly as any other character ever developed for a dramatic film. Will Smith is the reason why Ben is who he is to the audience. Will is able to make us feel for Ben and then take it away just like that, because of the character. Will is able to make people view Ben as someone who messed yup and doesn’t deserve pity, and doesn’t deserve a second chance. It is all up to the individual to make the choice in this one. Some people may agree with Ben getting a second chance and other may not. Will Smith gives what I will call his best acting to date, never has he been so unique, so emotionally challenging. Will has done some awesome stuff, like Pursuit of Happyness (Which I have yet to see) Will has even handled comedy well with his comedic cover character in Bad Boys, and his alcoholic outspoken Hancock. But I have yet to see Will handle such an emotionally driven character, where there is no action to back him out of the proverbial bad acting situation, where there is no over dramatization that can back him out of the clichéd corner of doom. This is Will at his finest, which I will only hope and pray that he continues to do.
Rosario Dawson is a great actress, she is good at what she does, she gets good chances, but sometimes she has failed to hit it big. She failed to impress in films like Eagle Eye, The Descent and Alexander. All the while making up for it with such films like 25th Hour (Which will remain her best film ever) and Sin City. This film is the next film that can be added to her short but impressive list of greats. She plays Emily Posa, a woman who suffers from Heart Failure and will die unless she gets a heart. Ben stumbles upon her, making sure that she doesn’t have to pay her taxes in the allotted time. He gives her an extension and they become really great friends. Ben helps her out around her house, and she tries to understand who he is a person, all the while he tries so desperately to pull away not revealing to her who he really is, and what it is he had done to end up there with her. Emily just continues to see Ben as a guardian angel, someone sent there to watch over her, and give her one last bit of happiness before she dies from the disease that has been eating away at her for her whole life. Ben becomes much more than that, which is where the summary of Emily and Ben will have to stop due to the revealing of spoilers.
This film is driven, by rich and deep emotions that will touch your soul, if not you need to see someone for some help. It is one of the most realistic accounts of human emotion and guilt to ever be seen on the big screen. There were at least 3 scenes that brought me to the edge of tears, because of how powerful and moving real life depictions can be. Never before has there been a film that slowly reveals the pain of its protagonist, while it also tries to get you to hate the protagonist for what he was done. This film is probably the most honest and sincere piece of filmmaking since 21 Grams. This is the first emotionally charged film that I couldn’t tear my eyes off of since I watched Sean Penn tear apart the script he was given for 21 Grams. Will Smith is the glue that holds this masterpiece together. It appears good from the trailers, but once you leave the theatre you realize it is so much better than you could have ever envisioned it would be.
This film is one to be seen, its heart wrenching, intense, mind boggling, deep, understandable and still it leaves you wanting to talk, wanting to cry wanting to reach out and help someone why may need it. A deep and great film that a lot of people will have mixed emotions about.
As of this point There will be Spoilers. I wrote a review of the film with little to no revealing of the plot. If you have not seen the film yet and plan on doing so then do not read on because I will talking about some scenes that I rather enjoyed out of this film
The first scene that pops into my mind when discussing this is right at the beginning when Ben Thomas stops by the room of Inez the older lady in the hospital. Ben is deciding whether or not Stuart Goodman deserves an extension on his taxes, and upon talking with Inez Ben realizes that Stuart does not care for his patients the way he should. It is left to the audience to see that Goodman is mistreating his patients by not taking care of them, not washing them and then trying to come off as a good man. This scene is powerful, just like many more to come, it shows what Ben is doing, it gives an insight to the help he wishes to give, before ever revealing the wrong he did. This scene gave Ben an identity as a good man, a helpful man.
The Second scene that comes to mind when thinking about this film is the Car accident scene. When Ben looks down at his phone to read the text messages and he drifts over the yellow line. This scene is the one scene that differs from all the rest. Its gives us Ben Thomas in a new light, a man who may have been driven by guilt in order to save the lives of Seven strangers, without the accident, he probably would have never even decided to save those Seven people. It makes you think though that those Seven people could have either died, or been left the way they were simply because Ben might not have had his accident. It makes you question whether or not Ben is in it for the greater good or just to make himself feel better about who he is.
There are a lot of scenes that stick out in this film, but probably none will stick with you as much as the talk with Dr/Briar/ suicide scene. Ben asks the doctor about Emilys chances of survival and she’s that it is very low with maybe a three percent chance that she could live or that she could find a heart. Ben is then shown at his apartment where he fills up his bath tub with ice and gets in with a deadly jellyfish that ultimately kills him. Then it flashes to Emily who’s pager goes off and she looks for Ben. Ben is not there, as the audience already knows because he is the one giving her the heart. This scene really does bring you to the verge of tears. It is so flawlessly shot, and the emotions, the perspectives, the reality and the sadness are all caught with such gracefulness that one can only try and hold back the tears. Ben is shown once again as the tragic hero, the one we can all relate to after having done something wrong that ends up harming others. Ben is shown as the man who will give great sacrifices, all the while we the audience know what he has done and why it is he is left feeling his has no other choice but to end his life this way. Ben ends the film as someone of great change, someone who after doing something wrong decided to make up for his wrong. In the end Ben took the lives of 8 people, one being himself, but ultimately if you look at it in a positive manner, Ben saved people, it doesn’t make up for it, because that is how it was meant to be. Something’s had no real explanation, but in the end the only life that didn’t fit in to the whole it is your time to go was Ben himself. He purposely changed his timing, he wasn’t meant to die in the car accident, because he was meant to love again to give himself to love, to make up for what he did.
It was a great film, despite being a little depressing and somewhat a downer, this film will hit you later on when you get home from seeing it. A great film that everyone should see and embrace as the hero-tragedy it is.
8/10
