HEFE'S REVIEW OF:
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008)

OPENING THOUGHTS

    Everyone I talked to about this movie has told me that this was boring, way too long and not worth the time. But if you think that was going to stop me from watching this movie you've got another thing coming. I found the concept of this movie to be immensely interesting and I just couldn't see how this movie could suck with all of the talent involved.

ACTING

    BRAD PITT or CGI Brad Pitt depending on which part of the movie you were watching, was excellent in this film. He did a great job creating a character that seemed just as interested and confused about what was happening to him as everyone else was, but doing so in a very innocent way. By playing the character this way it really opened him up in a Forrest Gump kind of way that made you pity him slightly but only enough to make you feel like you were rooting for the underdog.
    CATE BLANCHETT's performance was not as captivating as Pitt's was, she didn't do a bad job, just not a great job. My favorite scenes were when she was playing an old woman, I think she did a great job acting like she was on the verge of death. However when she was young I found her character to be boring at best, I just don't think she was able to keep up with Pitt.
    TARAJI P. HENSON on the other hand put in a notable performance as Benjamin Button's surrogate mother. Her character may have been a little over-emotional, but it was done in such a way that it seemed appropriate and genuine. I hate to draw another comparison to Forrest Gump here, but her character reminded me a lot of Sally Field's character in that film, but really given the story line, and the fact that this was written by the same guy that wrote Forrest Gump, I think it would be hard not to compare the two films.

DIRECTION AND SCRIPT

    DAVID FINCHER is a fantastic director in my humble opinion, and this movie is no exception. This movie was beautifully shot and really does an excellent job of capturing each of the time frames that Benjamin Button lives through. I also really liked the special effects that were used in this film, the old Brad Pitt was really an amazing accomplishment. He also got excellent performances out of most of the actors. This movie is not perfect though, in fact far from it, but I don't think that has anything to do with the director, I think that blame falls to the screenwriter.
    ERIC ROTH is normally a great screenwriter, and when you consider that he had an excellent concept already created for him, you would think this film would be an automatic home run, but to me, it wasn't. The main problem is there was not really any conflict about the situation itself. Everyone just accepted him and at some points pitied the character, so any chance of this movie be gripping is lost. In a way it kind of makes this movie less believable because everyone just believes the situation and moves past it in a matter of minutes. The other problem is that he obviously modeled this movie after Forrest Gump all of the elements are there, the timeline certainly plays into that, but by falling into that trap and then designing the characters and situations to mirror that of Gump, we as an audience are forced to compare the two, and as a result we see just how much better of a film Forrest Gump really is. This is because Gump was a more lovable character and he seemed to stumble through important events in a somewhat comedic and heart-warming way, while in this film the time-line seemed to be more of an after-thought most of the time.

THE VERDICT

    There is no question that this is movie is beautifully shot with fantastic special effects and a star-studded cast. But really the only thing this movie should have been nominated for is Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects, Best Director and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson. It seems the Academy was taken in by the grand scope of this film, and lost site of the fact that nuts and bolts of this film contain many flaws that hold this movie back from becoming fantastic. I think The Dark Knight is a much better example of an all around good movie and is much more deserving of the praise that this film was so unfairly given.
 
 

RATING: C +

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