Life isn't measured in minutes, but in moments .

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2008)

Adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" follows the life of Benjamin Button, who is born with the appearance and physical limitations of a man who is 87 years old. Abandoned in a nursing home by his father, Benjamin begins aging backward on the outside of his body. While in the home, he meets Daisy, a young aspiring ballerina. As the film progresses, the two fall in love, while struggling to deal with the issue of one growing younger while the other grows older.
My favorite film from David Fincher is "Zodiac." By the end of the film, I found it quite surprising "Benjamin Button" wasn't all as great as people hype it to be. Don't be surprised when you find this film not as great as you imagined it to be. The hype makes the film much more than what it really is. However, that doesn't make the film bad. In fact, it's really fantastic, but, again, not as good as you would've wanted it to be.
What starts off on a mediocre note, "Benjamin Button" is like other films you've seen before. You see this old woman, Daisy, in this hospital. Her daughter is sitting next to her. The mother tells her to read off a diary, written by the man she loved. Then starts off the journey of the film. While the story goes on, once in awhile, or quite often, the story stops and goes back to present day. I found that quite annoying. It does break the flow of the film but I guess all movies do that.
Filled with flaws like that, "Benjamin Button" is not a perfect film. The film is awfully long that I found some points in the film very pointless and have no meaning to the story whatsoever. However, I guess the point of the film is to show the life of Benjamin and not the romance tale between him and Daisy, which I thought would've been just as good a movie, making it probably forty-five minutes shorter. This being said, the best parts of the whole movie was the romance tale between Benjamin and Daisy.
As the film progresses, the film turns mediocre to great until the brilliant last act. The fairy tale has a very timeless feel to it and I guess that's what made the film so great. Brad Pitt does a great job portraying Benjamin at various ages. When Cate Blanchett comes in, she, as well, does a great job with her role. Supporting roles like Taraji P. Henson and even cameo roles like Tilda Swinton do their best for the movie.
Like Fincher's previous work, "Benjamin Button" has a great look throughout the film, portraying different pieces of time fantastically and believably. On the same level, the costumes are great as well as the special effects. In the end, "Benjamin Button" is not perfect, but I didn't care. It's a fantastic film filled with flaws and it's proud of that fact. I think it's a great fairy tale for everyone, excluding kids, to see. While not the best film of the year, it's pretty high up there as well as being the most ambitious work from Fincher.