The Life of Benjamin Button

Rating: 8/10 (14 March 2010)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was a film that had been in production since the early nineties, with different directors like Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard and actors like Tom Cruise and John Travolta being attached. It was subjected to numerous rewrites until David Fincher and Brad Pitt took control of the project.
Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) was a man with an extraordinary condition: he was born as an 80-year-old man in 1918, in New Orleans. His mother dies during his child birth and his father Thomas (Jason Flemyng) abandons him at an old persons home. Benjamin is raised in the home and a carer, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) becomes his surrogate mother. Benjamin's condition makes him grow younger and physically experience life backwards. He soon meets the love of his life, Daisy (Cate Blanchett, Elle Fanning and Madisen Beaty). The two go on their separate ways, Daisy becoming a ballerina, and Benjamin travels, but the two are continually drawn to each other.
When I first saw the trailer I thought it was a Tim Burton film, giving it a dark almost Gothic feel: but the real film is not like that. It would have been better if Tim Burton did direct this film, it was an idea that he could have sunk his teeth into. David Fincher does offer a solid hand behind the camera, and give the film a tender touch: despite what some people say, Benjamin Button is basically a love story. But Fincher is better at grittier subject matter like in Se7en, Fight Club and Zodiac. Fincher also makes this film a bit too long and therefore, makes it drag. That is always a problem in any film.
There is a good cast in this film. Brad Pitt once again shows he is more then a pretty boy and gives a compelling performance in the lead role. Cate Blanchett is offers a decent performance, but she had done better. Taraji P. Henson who was nominated for a Oscar gives a very good performance as Benjamin replacement mother. The child actors in the film were also very compelling in their roles.
The script was a problem area for this film. It was written Eric Roth who also wrote Forest Gump (a very overrated film). He follows a same sort of plot, a two friends/lover who take separate courses in live but still able to meet each other at points. As well as coping a similar plot, their seems to be a lack of realistic or internal logic, with everyone seeming to be normal about Benjamin's condition: surely wouldn't he be taken to a doctor or be tested or something? It's even more strange when at times the world is very surreal, but others it's quite down to Earth. The other problem is for a film that is set in New Orleans during an important period of America's social history the film completely side-steps the issue of racism and the civil rights movement. All this historical events are just background noise.
A decent but flawed film. 7.5 out of 10. Tim Burton would have been more suited for this project.