Seven Pounds

Columbia Pictures
123 Minutes

List Price: $39.95 (Check Price at Amazon.com)

This movie is also available on DVD and video on demand (rental).

Available 3/31/2009

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Disc 1 Contents

• Upfront Ads - can be skipped (HD, DD 5.1)
  • Blu-ray Promo (2:28)
  • Trailer for I Loved You So Long (1:42)
  • Trailer for The Passengers (2:05)
• Movie
• Special Features
  • Director Commentary
  • Seven Views on Seven Pounds (~27:00 HD)
    • The Writer (3:40)
    • The Producers (2:54)
    • The Director (5:53)
    • The Location Manager (5:58)
    • The Designer (2:09)
    • The Editor (4:50)
    • The Composer (6:01)
  • Creating the Perfect Ensemble (12:56 HD)
  • The Box Jellyfish: World's Deadliest Co-Star (4:58 HD)
  • Emily's Passion: The Art of the Printing Press (8:44 HD)
  • Deleted Scenes (4:04 HD)
  • Previews (HD)

About the Movie

Will Smith reteams with the director from The Pursuit of Happyness in this cryptic story told through flashbacks about a man on a mission. Smith plays an IRS agent that is searching out seven people in the hopes of changing their lives if he deems them worthy. We only get pieces of the story, and they're given out of order; all leading up to a climax that is supposed to make it all make sense and to have an impact at the same time.

How Does it Look?

The picture quality was good but unremarkable and free of artifacts or other issues.

How Does it Sound?

The Dolby TrueHD lossless audio soundtrack is good, but the movie doesn't lend itself to being good audio (or video) demo material. The car crash is the only scene to demonstrate significant surround activity. That being said, I'm still glad to see a lossless soundtrack, as every Blu-ray disc should offer the best audio options possible.

The music is actually quite good, and it's unfortunate that the disc doesn't offer a music-only track.

Extras

I like to see the theatrical trailer included with movies, so I was disappointed that none were included here. The "Seven Views on Seven Pounds" feature is very long, so it's good that they're broken up into separate chapters, but they are worth the time to watch. In fact, all of the features are worth watching, and they make you appreciate the work and dedication that went into the movie. The deleted scenes are pretty typical in that they were better deleted than kept, if nothing else but to keep the running time down. Everything is in HD, which is a welcome aspect and not all that common.

BD-Live functionality is included on this title, but as is typical with past Sony/Columbia Pictures releases, none of the BD-Live content had anything to do with the movie. A week after the Blu-ray's release, no materials were present that added to the enjoyment of this movie, and that's disappointing.

There is a second disc in the form of a DVD Digital Copy. By inserting the disc into a Windows PC or Mac, you can obtain a digital copy of the movie for playback on your PSP, PC, Mac, or iPod. I didn't explore this option, so I can't comment on the picture or sound quality. The documentation says that the Digital Copy must be redeemed by 3/17/2010.

Other Aspects

This disc is BD-J formatted, but unlike some other recent titles, our PlayStation 3 was not able to support auto-resuming the movie. Bookmarking is supported, so the lack of auto-resume is mitigated somewhat.

Conclusion

Whether this release is for you depends completely upon your opinion of the movie. I've not seen The Pursuit of Happyness, but from what I've read, it's similar in tone. That most likely means that if you liked that movie, you'll like this one.

If you are fortunate enough to have a Netflix membership, I think it's better to rent this one first if you haven't seen it already or aren't sure about it. If you liked this movie, there are enough extras to reward a purchase, especially if the Digital Copy feature appeals to you.

Recommended Reading

Don't just take our word for it, check out these resources for more reviews of the movie and of the disc.

• Movie Reviews
  • Reader Reviews
  • Other Featured Movie Reviews
• Blu-ray Reviews
  • Clark Douglas of DVD Verdict
  • DVD Savant of DVDTalk
  • Peter M. Bracke of High Def Digest
  • Widescreen Review (subscription required)

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