Stunning film but hindered by slow pacing and excessive duration - 86%

Rating: 8/10 (16 February 2009)

Working yet again on Valentine's Day meant that I had to surprise my Better Half the following day and seeing as she'd been keen to see this, I bought two tickets and we went for it. Judging by the reviews, it seems a real Marmite picture - some love it while others hate it. In truth, it isn't as bad as some have said but this is a real achievement of a film. Everything from acting, direction, story and soundtrack is spot on but somehow, it just fails to come together. It felt like a pocket watch, relentlessly telling its story with absolutely no change in pace at all.
At the end of the First World War in New Orleans, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) is born in unusual circumstances - his new-born frame has all the features of a eighty year old man. Abandoned by his father Thomas (Jason Flemyng), Benjamin is raised in a nursing house by the kindly Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) as an old man but soon, he becomes stronger, taller and the symptoms of his "old age" start to reverse. As Benjamin Button grows younger, he meets and falls in love with a flame-haired young girl called Daisy (Cate Blanchett) and eventually, he sets out to discover more about life, the world and the people around him.
Essentially "Forrest Gump 2", "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" is one of the movies cleaning up during this awards season, at least if "Slumdog Millionaire" wasn't. But it's easy to understand why - this is a true epic, lasting a bum-numbing 3 hours plus and covering some ninety years of (mostly) US history. And in case you were worried about the look of the thing (like me) then worry not. The sheer amount of effort that went into making the characters age was not wasted and not one character suffers as a result. Naturally, Pitt is getting all the plaudits but in truth, the entire cast is near flawless led by Blanchett, Henson and Jared Harris as Captain Mike. And all of the cast are helped by a stunning script that rarely lets your attention wonder, despite the excessive duration. However, it is very predictable - at no point does the script deviate from what you expect. But as a study of love, life and death then this will be hard to top.
My problem, besides the over-long duration, was that it was way too predictable. Like a clock, you knew what was happening next and when it was going to happen. It reminded me of a car journey I once took in Scotland where we were following the coastline of various lochs and weaving around mountains, forests and white-water rivers. It was all very pretty and very enjoyable but it took us about five hours to get to where we were going, by which time I'd had enough. "The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button" is exactly like that. Don't get me wrong, I fully understand why it is getting awards and nominations and the like but if only it was better paced and more surprising, this would be a stone-cold classic. But it's still a great film that serious film fans would do well to watch - just make sure you go to the toilet first and stock up with snacks.