When I saw Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull I saw the first trailer to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and I'll admit that I was creeped out and I didn't like the trailer at all. In fact I thought it looked completely terrible but how can that be when you have David Fincher directing, Brad Pitt starring and Eric Roth writing the screenplay. Then I actually started paying more attention to the film and everything started to sound much better than my initial thoughts from the trailer. Even with all the good buzz about the film I still, however, was unsure if I was going to like it but at the same time I still wanted to see it. Obviously with this review I did see it, but did Iike it?

If you don't know who David Fincher is, he's the director of another Brad Pitt film called Fight Club - sound familiar? So just with that film credit, you already know that he's a very good director. Yes, he has talent but would he be able to handle something that could be potentially epic? What makes Benjamin Button a potentially epic film? Because of Eric Roth. He's written films like Ali, Munich, The Good Shepherd, and of course Forrest Gump so as you can see from his work, he's done a lot of films that are considered fantastic pictures.

We all know that some actors are over shadowed by their celebrity status, good looks and so forth, which in this case is Brad Pitt, and people sometimes forget that these actors are actually good actors. For a time, I was skeptical if Pitt was the right choice for this role; would people watch this film and not be immersed because the title character is played by such a popular person like Brad Pitt?

I answer all of this below, but to put it in a short couple of sentences - David Fincher directs a fantastic script from Eric Roth but it wouldn't be epic, as it is, without the wonderful performance from Brad Pitt. If your a fan of Forrest Gump and enjoy the life story of an incredible character, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button pulls out the stops with incredible direction from Fincher.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is about a baby born as an old man and throughout life, he reverses in age getting younger day by day. Benjamin is taught and cared for by those who lived full lives and we follow him as he takes a journey around the world living an existence that is unique and unusual. Directed by David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji Henson and Julia Ormond.

Likes:

• Brad Pitt plays such a wonderful, endearing character but also a character that is so alone since he's the only one of his kind, for lack of a better term. He shows us that he can play a character that's lived an incredible life that's full of experience. He's able to bring an emotion and kindness to the character making him endearing at times and very likable.
• The visual effects is revolutionary. You know that director McG is trying to superimpose another face on another body in Terminator 4; David Fincher proves that facial mapping is possible as it's done with Brad Pitt. You can't even tell that it's CGI but, without giving all that much away, they can make Brad Pitt looked the way he did back when he did A River Runs Through It. Don't believe me - head on over to IMDB and look at the number of people who played Benjamin Button.
• The cinematography is also very well done with some of the places Benjamin travels to but I don't want to say where because you should see it for yourself.
• Cate Blanchett once again does another film were she's great in. She adapts to every personality she needs to play throughout her characters life and in the end you feel pretty bad for her for various reasons but without her performance, it wouldn't have been as good. Blanchett makes up for Indiana Jones... rest assured.
• The supporting cast is really great but the best performance comes from Taraji Henson who plays Queenie, Benjamin's adoptive mother. I don't doubt she'll get a supporting nomination from the Academy Awards.

Dislikes:

• It sounds ridiculous given the length of the film but when it's all over I felt that a lot was missing from the film. I don't think I'd call them plot holes but there could have been a lot more story and I found that trouble-some, however, how much longer can it get. We already know that Fincher had difficulties with Paramount for the length to begin with.
• I might love Blanchett's performance, and I might really like Julia Ormond but the scenes with the both of them in the hospital really would take me out of the film. Ormonds character reads from Benjamin's dairy which is all well and good and nothing is wrong with the performance but every time you would be immersed in a scene they'd cut to Ormond forcing you to step out of the story. That's not a good thing to do to audiences.
• The prologue, if you will, about the clock... was stupid. I was watching this and thinking to myself, "wtf is this... can we please get the Benjamin Button story started."

Although an unusual film I would recommend The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to any adult. The formula of the story might be reminiscent of Forrest Gump but that doesn't nullify the fact that it's a really good film that people, I think, would really enjoy. The visual aspects are worth it alone but I supposed general film goers won't be interested in that. If you decide to see Benjamin Button, you'll surely enjoy some great characters and a charming story with what could be an emotional end for some people. If I saw this before I did my 10 ten of the year this film would more than likely end up on the list or most definitely end up as an honorable mention. If you can't get out to the theater to see this, make sure it's a rental for when it hits DVD - I don't think you'll be disappointed. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button scores a very solid 8 out of 10.

-Phil

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