MYST #5: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

After watching The Tree of Life, I was interested what other work Brad Pitt had out there. Having already seen Fight Club and the Ocean’s Eleven movies, I decided to check out The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. 

The main plot for this film is about a man named Benjamin Button(Brad Pitt) that ages backwards. Abandoned by his family, he is raised by a servant named Queenie. After learning how to walk and hanging out with all the old people that live in the same nursery home, he moves out at the age of 17 and becomes a part of a tugboat crew. After experiencing many ‘firsts,’ including having his first drink and going to his first brothel, Mike, the captain of his boat, volunteers the boat for the Navy following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Following a battle that resulted in both the tugboat and an enemy submarine to sink, Benjamin is rescued and released from the war. When he gets home, he meets his biological father whom he is angry at. His father reveals his is sick and is going to give Benjamin everything in his will. A number of years go by and Benjamin links up with his childhood friend, Daisy(Cate Blanchett), and they fall in love. They return to New Orleans and have a child, but are faced with the dilemma of what they should do when Benjamin is too young to be a father. Benjamin decides to leave and the rest of the film are scene of Daisy and Benjamin seeing each other every 10 or so years. Benjamin ends up dying in Daisy’s arms and Daisy dies two years later. The film is narrated by the child the two have as she reads the story of Benjamin. 

The visuals in this film were very impressive. Without the visuals of this film, it would be very hard to believe. The early scenes especially when Benjamin was ‘young’ were masterfully crafted to make the film credible. The time periods were also captured very interestingly that it made you feel like you were in that time period. The film ended up winning the Academy Award for Best Visuals in 2009.

Another thing about this film that stood out to be was the incredible similarity to the 1994 film Forrest Gump. For example, both are fatherless, have difficulty walking at a young age, go to war, get rich very fast, travel the world, and end up having a child with a childhood friend. Both screenplays are actually written by Eric Roth, so i’m sure that’s why. I thought that was interesting.

Overall, I thought this film was average. Director David Fincher and Brad Pitt have a solid chemistry between each other, but I feel the film is just too long. Running at 2 and a half hours, scenes just seem to drag on. This film had an interesting concept, but just was missing something. I give the film 2 and a half stars out of four.