The Curious case of Forrest Gump

Rating: 3/10 (18 February 2009)

As I left the theater there was only one thought running through my head; what ever happened to David Fincher? This film, although it has a nice central idea of a man growing younger and meeting a woman growing older, is ultimately about nothing. 45mins could EASILY have been chopped out of this. Did you need the Tilda Swinton story? All the crap on the boat?
The Forrest Gump analogies are rampant. In fact this is the love child of Big Fish and Forrest Gump. Alabama voice over, Lieutenant Dan, even having a symbol that was supposed to represent the them of the film - which by the way was WEAK in this movie. What a stupid idea the humming bird was - it's wings beat in a figure 8 motion and 8 is the symbol for infinity... Give me a break. Although I'm not Forrest Gump's biggest fan at least the feather was subtle and poetic. The Humming bird feels forced.
The special effects were a mixed bag. The digital make up was good and Pitt as an old man (except for one or two overly fake lip movements) were spot on. However traditional effects and digital matte paintings were atrocious and substandard. At first I thought the film was going to be a 300(esque) blue screen job - but then Fincher betrays that overly stylized style by having the film post-1950s being uber real. He even has Brad Pitt traveling around the world at one point and they look as if they were filmed in the real locations.
There a sequence in it that involves a traffic accident that almost made me yawn out loud. I get it Fincher. I see the point you are trying to make. It is a scene that feels robbed from Jean Pierre Jeunet or someone (only he'd have made it more entertaining by speeding it up and having the action happened really fast so you are playing catch up).
In also ends without any real closure and left me feeling... Meh. Stick to the darkness Fincher, you work best in that world.