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RE: The perfect film - 24/2/2009 9:15:33 PM

Jayk2912

Posts: 39
Joined: 23/2/2009
From: Manchester

You didn't like it??
That's a shame, like you said, it deeply moved me, and I'm not ashamed to admit it

Ah well, you can't win everyone over :D

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- 25/2/2009 10:47:47 AM

nclowe

Posts: 954
Joined: 15/2/2006
From: UK

Impressive special effects but didn't really find the characters very enaging,

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Post #: 92

RE: - 26/2/2009 11:59:15 AM

Barraluke

Posts: 931
Joined: 7/4/2008
From: Knoxville, Tennesse

I liked the film, actually invested in Button ( didnt really feel the relationship with Swinton, i acutally cant even recall her character's name) but I enjoyed the Benjamin/Daisy storyline and was almost heratbroken that Daisy ended up looking after a young Button with dementia. Achingly sad with moments of true joy created one of the best films of the year and one of my favourites of all time. Pitt gives a fantastic, career best performance which he will find hard to top.

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Post #: 93

RE: RE: - 26/2/2009 2:46:09 PM

lamby

Posts: 97
Joined: 18/10/2005

I thought this film was extraordinary. If you cant let yourself be immersed in the story it will sweep you away. Wonderful special effects with a lovely story. It took you on rollercoaster ride of emotions that, apart from being a bit cliched, provided a joyful experience.

For me, should have beat Slumdog to best picture at the Oscars.

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Post #: 94

RE: RE: - 26/2/2009 7:32:33 PM

Barraluke

Posts: 931
Joined: 7/4/2008
From: Knoxville, Tennesse

Fun as they are, maybe this will mark an end to Pitt's charming characters and show a depth of acting (se7en, fight club, Button) because hell, i just realised hes four years younger than my dad! JUST FOUR! if he stops the Ocean stuff hes bound to win an oscar - hes got the talent! and the dad situation is just creepy..

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Post #: 95

Benjamin Button - 27/2/2009 12:22:01 AM

movie_man2006

Posts: 3
Joined: 22/10/2008

The best movie of 2008 didn't feature psycopaths with makeup or men dressed up as bats. It didn't feature cute robots, nor did it involve washed-up fighters trying to make up for his mistakes. Although these movies came in close, they were no match for the juggernaut effort of David Fincher. "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" exceeds not (only) in a technical level, but in an emotional one. The following phrase may seem a little strange, but it is true: Fincher is a romantic. "What? The director of Fight Club and Se7en, a romantic?", some may ask. Believe me, I'm as surprised as you are, I'd answer. Benjamin Button is the most memorable romance of the year and it represents a level of maturity for Fincher, one that was beginning to show after last year's Zodiac. The director doesn't waste any more time with MTV-like editing or pretentious directing. Now, his efforts are quiet, delicate. In a Kubrickian-like level of detail, he meticulously creates Button as a romantic fable. Alexandre Desplat's haunting score helps in creating the atmosphere for the 166 minute romantic epic. They don't make 'em like this anymore. Eric Roth's screenplay has been often compared to his previous Oscar-winning effort in Forrest Gump, but it is here that the writer excels himself. It's a sweeping, emotional story, and a true study on the notion of life and how time can pass us by.

Benjamin Button could be only a metaphore, but in the hands of Brad Pitt, he becomes the most fascinating character of the year. Boasting the best performance of a superb cast (Taraji P. Henson, Cate Blanchett and Jared Harris give award-worthy performances), the underrated actor/movie star creates Benjamin as a passive observer, a man who truly understands and embraces the notion of death. He doesn't mourn, nor does he seem to show any sign of emotion. In the end, he has to let go. It's a moving, subtle performance that could easily be dismissed. Luckily, the Academy understands a thing or two about acting. Benjamin Button is Brad Pitt's only second nod. Hopefully, there are more to come.

One cannot forget the technical wonders of the film. The cinematography, which seems to morph as the decades go by; the impressive makeup, that not only makes Cate Blanchett look old (and I thought that was impossible...), but also seems to age BRAD PITT during the Russia segment! The visual effects, though, are the film's true technical standout. Never before was this sort of technology been seen on a film. The closest comparison I can come up with is Andy Serkis' Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

There are some flaws in Fincher's newest masterpiece. But they're too minimal to really consider. "Benjamin Button" is a film for the ages. I've said it once, I'll say it again: they don't make 'em like this anymore.

< Message edited by movie_man2006 -- 27/2/2009 12:26:44 AM >

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Post #: 96

- 27/2/2009 4:27:22 PM

Ms Quinn

Posts: 5
Joined: 4/7/2008

I truly loved this film. There aren't the typical twists and turns that keep you stuck to your seat but this film managed to do that without them. This is a film to pull at the emotions and i feel it will be vastly more popular with the female audience than with the male. I say this mainly because firstly, this film is a love story! There's somthing in this film that has breathed a new life into it's main actors, who in my personal view had started to gather a little dust. Pitt has never acted better!

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Post #: 97

RE: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - 28/2/2009 1:11:06 PM

Bobby1975

Posts: 297
Joined: 17/7/2006

I didn't care if he grew young and died,grew old and died or simply just died. Brad Pitt's performance had no substance and the characters were extremely uninteresting except for the Native-American sailor who didn't say anything and then got turned into minced meat by Nazi enfilade.

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Post #: 98

Almost there... - 2/3/2009 12:11:59 PM

Caster

Posts: 5608
Joined: 30/9/2005

It's a very very very good film BUT I felt it was building to a climax or revalation about life that never appears. The FX are wonderful but using child actors shows there are still boundaries to overcome there. Apart from the (on first glance at least) flimsy ending and quasi-Gump similarities, this is top notch film-making with great performances and clever yet subtle de and pre aging effects.

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Post #: 99

Dull! - 12/3/2009 2:00:41 PM

Ed Wood

Posts: 288
Joined: 1/10/2005

The character Benjamin Button has got to be one of the dullest characters EVER!!

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Post #: 100

RE: Encore! - 1/4/2009 12:25:23 PM

Magenta

Posts: 9402
Joined: 30/9/2005
From: The fuzzy end of the lollipop

This is just what I love about film something that envelopes you from the first scene to the last and totally takes you away on a journey.
Wow and what a journey along the way we are introduced to such enigmatic characters such as the boozy tattood captain of a tugboat and a black pygmy man who sparks one of the first experiences for Benjamin when he leaves his safety net.
I can see why this could be a film that people will love to hate argubly for some it's too long too sentimental but I didn't find it either and it's not sugary sweet more bittersweet.
I thought the casting was spot on especially Tilda Swinton who was superb and of course Cate everytime I see her I just think can this lady get any better and she does everytime.

I genuinely didn't read the review in empire until this morning having seen the film last night at my local arts centre and I was so pleased of the five star rating and the review by Ian Freer.

I say please Mr Fincher can we have some more..

As for the oscars I think the worthier film won and yet I dont feel I would be in any hurry to see Slumdog again but Benjamin I cant wait to see again and no doubt I will buy the dvd.

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Post #: 101

RE: Encore! - 1/4/2009 10:24:35 PM

wgamador

Posts: 20320
Joined: 17/1/2006
From: A polluted womb...

From the mini-review thread...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Positives
1. Great storytelling. No surprise since Eric Roth wrote the screenplay.
2. Incredibly convincing special effects and make-up. Reminds us that anything is possible with todays technology.
3. All scenes are masterfully crafted with incredible detail, even the slow boring scenes.
4. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett performances are an honor and a joy to behold.
5. Really felt transported to the time periods throughout the film.
6. Really cool way to work out the concept of someone aging backwards, and all the complications that would result from it.
7. The character who gets hit by lightning should have his own movie. Funniest moments in the movie without a doubt.
8. The ending with the floodwaters filling the rooms implied that curious and countless stories in people's journals and photo albums were destroyed and had Daisy not kept the journal close to her heart, Benjamin Button's story would have been lost forever.
9. The "What If" scene was pretty cool.....although it did have its negative point too.

Negatives
1. While Pitt and Blanchett give great performances, the chemistry seemed forced in places. I really didnt buy the "eternal love" between them. Probably because I didn't accept Benjamin's decision to leave Daisy with their child in her womb.
2. If Benjamin had really missed his child, why instead of writing postcards couldnt he just get off his motorcycle and go home to be a father.
3. The revelation that Benjamin was "Julia Ormond's" father in the hospital was laughable at best. I mean, she says to her dying mother something like .... "This is how you tell me" and then she attempts to smoke a cigarette INSIDE the hospital! Then just goes back to reading the journal.
4. The whole father-daughter revelation sucked. It's like me never meeting my father but 40 years later, my mother hands me a bunch of postcards and a diary that my father had written--saying things like, "I wish i coulda been in your life", etc....
5. Someone wrote this in an online review:
"This is such a sweet and tender love story. Benjamin and Daisy find themselves "meeting in the middle" and sharing a love for the ages. Their love is often messy, sometimes sad, and at all times electric just like a mature love should be. Bring your wife, husband or date. Sit back and let yourselves be reminded why you fell in love in the first place."
Give me a break....mature love? Having your baby daddy walk out on you so that he can age backwards on a boat, travel the world and abandon the responsibilty of raising a child...yep, thats mature. Full of casual sex and once you find someone who really cares and loves you, cheat on them with an old flame........cause that's mature. Wow. no wonder the USA divorce rate is 50%.
6. The transitions between Benjamin's story and the hospital scenes were very jarring and i found them very distracting.
7. The short tale of the blind guy who builds the clock backwards just seemed uneccesary and had nothing to do with Benjamin Button.
8. The "What If" scene was both good and bad.........because how in the living piss did anyone know all those details that i find a hard time accepting that all those details would be found in the police reports. But i forget, its a magical film.

* Final Verdict...............4/5.................

* I did not let my negative feelings spoil the films general theme and message for me, hence why it gets 4 stars....and had i not watched Slumdog Millionaire, i would have agreed that this deserved the Oscar for Best Picture. I found it a bit like Forrest Gump in places but its understandable and there would be more outrage had Eric Roth not written this film. Lots of credit goes to him, considering all the details he had to work on to make the film work.
I recommend the film, but do not watch this while depressed because more sadness is the last thing you need.

< Message edited by wgamador -- 1/4/2009 10:29:36 PM >

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Post #: 102

Beautifully Captivating. - 29/4/2009 8:40:17 PM

JoKeRJaMeZ

Posts: 44
Joined: 14/8/2008

The romance is beautiful, the effects are awesome and the style oozes quality. A fantastic film, but the modern twist was a bit naff...

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Post #: 103

RE: Down to personal taste, I guess - 3/5/2009 11:34:17 AM

nesta37

Posts: 54
Joined: 17/2/2009
From: strawberry fields

quote:

ORIGINAL: Arkduune

Sorry, with all due respect, I disagree with your opinion Mr. Freer.
I found this a long, dull, boring, lifeless tale. It had not the charm of Forrest Gump or the fantasy of Big Fish. Benjamin Button I found to be a plain character. Not nearly as interesting as one would expect coming from such a strange perspective. I admit the cinematography was elegant and Cate Blanchett gave a beautiful performance, but Brad Pitt seemed stiff and stagnant. I felt he missed a big opportunity to doing something really special with what that role had to offer. It was a nice idea for a romance story with an intriguing twist, but failed to stand out as something of worth. My opinion only people. If you liked it, whatever, y'know.

well said

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Post #: 104

Gentle Ben. - 8/6/2009 2:06:28 AM

AutoBarn

Posts: 7
Joined: 8/12/2008

The last time Brad Pitt worked with David Fincher, it was on what would become arguably the coolest film of all time. As zeitgeist-surfing, nihilistic hymns to counterculture go, Fight Club was up there with the best of them; a fizzing cocktail of Chuck Palahniuk’s 1996 ode to male angst and Fincher’s ferocious visual sensibilities, anchoring the definitive Brad Pitt performance. King guerrilla himself, Tyler Durden.

Before that, Fincher and Pitt brought us Fight Club’s terrifying antecedent, Se7en. It was (and is) a film which – silly numeric title notwithstanding – showed fervently that horror films could be art of the highest order; a film which was designed to, in the words of Fincher, ‘gang-rape’ its audience. Child-like hick detective Mills was just as important, if not more important a role for Pitt than Tyler Durden. An eagle boy-scout who took each one of the Machiavellian antagonist’s murders as a personal affront, Mills’ idealism shone so brightly as the world caved in around him that it rendered the dark things as very dark things indeed. Not bad for a (very) pretty boy whose greatest onscreen performances had up until that point been predominately abdominal.

Eyes were duly opened, and with Fincher on the rebound following Alien³ (you’d have thought he’d have dumped the silly numeric titles by now) these two forged a creative alliance powered by the energy only found amongst those with something to prove.

Since then, perhaps inevitably, both have failed to deliver anything that could compete with these two masterpieces. Fincher has perhaps fared the best - Zodiac is if nothing else a meticulously constructed crime drama – but his other efforts (The Game, Panic Room) have conspicuously lacked the bloodied knuckles (figuratively, and literally) of his earlier efforts. For all of Zodiac’s minimalism, there is a feeling that Fincher might be doing that most dreadful

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Post #: 105

Piece of Shit! - 10/6/2009 9:45:04 AM

Pelle

Posts: 81
Joined: 19/5/2008

Worst film of 2008.

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Post #: 106

RE: Piece of Shit! - 10/6/2009 1:56:19 PM

st3veebee

Posts: 2354
Joined: 3/9/2006
From: 9303 Lyon Drive

Firstly I am not at all ashamed to be moved emotionally during a film, in fact I welcome it with open arms. TCCoBB just didn't engage me at all though with it's Forrest Gump-ness and unabashedly sentimental porn. In fact a few supposedly tear inducing scenes brought faint smirks and forehead smacks instead.
The acting is far from awful with Pitt delivering a good, if a little too detached, performance. Cate Blanchett is usually a sublime presence but seems to be at odds and ends over what her character's real feelings are. The supporting cast does a fine job too with the Irish Tugboat captain being particularly memorable.
The direction and score are just too "fuzzy" for my taste. Your never too far away from someone spilling their heart out with an accompanying soft ballad. Yes, I can see that it is something of a fairy tale but the simliarities to Forrest Gump are too obvious and this lack of originality sucks away the life of what could have been a great film.

Overall a long film with one too many powerful insights ala "life is like a box of chocolates" that really don't add up to a hill of beans.

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Post #: 107

missed opportunity - 11/6/2009 9:47:39 AM

MOTH

Posts: 3194
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From: Sittin' on the dock of the bay

An intriguing premise and some brilliant effects are both wasted in an overlong, rather tedious tale, particularly handicapped by the clumsy and intrusive modern-day framing device. Only in the last half hour does is threaten to become something more perceptive and insightful, which only serves to heighten the frustrating sense of an opportunity missed. (5/10)

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Post #: 108

RE: missed opportunity - 11/6/2009 12:49:01 PM

filmburner30

Posts: 1546
Joined: 5/12/2006
From: guildford

The Gump comparison seeps in as you watch and does ruin the film somewhat.
Overall though not to bad ,Finchers visual eye is alwys good and he is on top form here .
A little too long and a little dull in places 7/10

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Post #: 109

RE: missed opportunity - 11/6/2009 1:21:49 PM

shool

Posts: 9640
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From: In The Pipe, Five by Five.

I absolutely loved this film. Another one I dont get the negativity to.

It held me captivated throughout.

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Post #: 110

RE: Wonderful - 13/6/2009 10:45:46 AM

anakin solo

Posts: 1036
Joined: 28/2/2006
From: in the force

I really enjoyed it, it was clever and had some funny moments as well as some dark ones and some sad ones, but the problem for me was how long it was did they really have to go through each segment of his life in reverse but overall a great film.

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Post #: 111

Good But Draining. - 14/6/2009 9:58:36 AM

joanna likes films

Posts: 987
Joined: 27/10/2007
From: Bexhill

After reading postive reviews of this, I decided to see it last night. It's a unusual film about a boy who grows backwards while everyone else ages and pass away in front of his eyes but he falls for Daisy, his childhood friend, but will the relationship surrive while he's getting younger? The love story between Ben and Daisy is pretty powerful, romantic and leaves you with a lump in the throat during a certain scene. The special effects to make Ben younger and Daisy older is outstanding, pretty amazing to see. The pefomances by Brad Pitt and Cate Blancett are brilliant, they put a awful lot in their characters and you feel for their tough times. Problem is the running time, it dragged seriously and I was left drained after it finished. Some of the scenes could have been cut, very slow and boring at times. But it's a good film to watch only the once I think, no way a masterpiece but something different to watch.

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Post #: 112

RE: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - 16/6/2009 8:45:44 PM

demoncleaner

Posts: 2176
Joined: 3/10/2005
From: Belfast

Saw this for the first time at the weekend and just marvelled at it. Fincher was testing the waters of the period film with Zodiac but this is a heady immersal. Button has all sorts of reminisces and connotations, its pure John Irving, it reminded me of Love in the Time of Cholera, and you can feel the Forrest Gump template (forgive that please because it�s never so trite or quite so obviously picaresque as that particular fable).

There�s nothing new about the observation that in many ways we end life the way that we begin it but until I saw the tacit awkwardness of Pitt�s 80 year old Button, his apprehensions mixed up with his infant curiosity I couldn�t help be moved by the embodiment of that notion. Button is a pretty broad idea, tres high concept and it should be clumsy in it�s effort to ingratiate us with age and mortality. But it really isn�t. I thought it politely, and ever so delicately exploded clich�s such as youth is wasted on the young et al. I suppose because I found both love interests slightly icy and the youthful Button less interesting than the hamstrung �child� I never felt sentiment impinge on my viewing experience. So for my point of view I sat through this film that got me thinking about generations of family, friends and how the framed photos about our house chart a person�s affable decline into age. And for me it engendered that introspection without morbidity or bearing the slightest maudlin quality. It should be melodrama but it really isn�t. Neither is it allegorical or assumes itself to be any kind of fable, I get the feeling Fincher�s film is more honest than that. It's quite possibly one of a very select few films that benefits from being so literal to its premise. Somehow, it works. Beautifully.

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Post #: 113

RE: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - 16/6/2009 8:55:47 PM

hatebox

Posts: 942
Joined: 14/2/2008

The critics who disliked this film often cited reasons that sound like I would really hate it (eg. artificial sentimentality) but I may have to see for myself.

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Post #: 114

RE: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - 17/6/2009 3:40:17 AM

tokyosexwhale

Posts: 102
Joined: 6/2/2007

Is it just me or going through the thought process on the movies reverse aging 'baby old man' to 'old man baby' logic.....I spent the entire film looking forward to seeing a 5' 11 gummy drooling nappy wearing baby old man Brad Pitt and wondering how they're ever gonna get away with showing that.

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Post #: 115

The Curious Case of being overlooked and under-rated - 28/6/2009 8:54:19 AM

C K Dexter Haven

Posts: 17
Joined: 31/10/2007

This is a wonderful movie.
David Fincher delivers a masterpiece in story crafting and telling, with its shifting narrative punctuated by two world wars and the onset of Hurrican Katrina, whilst leaving out the now cliched Vietnam era that the screenwriter milked beyond its worth (and credibility) in Forrest Gump.
Visully, the film is a treat, with bleak monotones and shell shocked seascapes blending seamlessly with yhe jazzy downtown of New Orleans all entertaining rather than depressing as their intial canvas would lead us to believe.
The story itself is simple. It's a story of enduring love, the love some of us marvel at our parents for sharing and can only dream of finding for ourselves in a time when it seems easier to give up than work hard to love someone so uncondionally and so deeply as Ben and Daisy do.
The reverse aging angle is a mere device rather than anything to put off cynics or attract sci-fi fans, who will either marvel at the love story or find disappointment that Brad Pitt doesn't finally crawl into a womb a la Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddessy.
Ultimately, this is a film about love, and you'll either love it or choose to reject it.
I loved it.

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Post #: 116

RE: The Curious Case of being overlooked and under-rated - 3/7/2009 9:49:01 PM

00Nothing

Posts: 108
Joined: 27/3/2008
From: Co Down, Northern Ireland

quote:

ORIGINAL: C K Dexter Haven

This is a wonderful movie.
David Fincher delivers a masterpiece in story crafting and telling, with its shifting narrative punctuated by two world wars and the onset of Hurrican Katrina, whilst leaving out the now cliched Vietnam era that the screenwriter milked beyond its worth (and credibility) in Forrest Gump.
Visully, the film is a treat, with bleak monotones and shell shocked seascapes blending seamlessly with yhe jazzy downtown of New Orleans all entertaining rather than depressing as their intial canvas would lead us to believe.
The story itself is simple. It's a story of enduring love, the love some of us marvel at our parents for sharing and can only dream of finding for ourselves in a time when it seems easier to give up than work hard to love someone so uncondionally and so deeply as Ben and Daisy do.
The reverse aging angle is a mere device rather than anything to put off cynics or attract sci-fi fans, who will either marvel at the love story or find disappointment that Brad Pitt doesn't finally crawl into a womb a la Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddessy.
Ultimately, this is a film about love, and you'll either love it or choose to reject it.
I loved it.

Agree with just about everything you say there, I thought the movie was superb, engaging and moving on so many levels. If there was a criticism I had to level at the film it is that the last twenty minutes do drag a little, but this is compensated by the scenes between Blanchett and those children that play the older Benjamin. And was it just me, or was that image of Benjamin sitting with his daughter out in his garden as the baloon flies away one of the most moving you have ever seen in a film. Fincher doesn't even milk it for the sentimentality of it all. He just films it matter of factly and it still breaks the heart.

Overall, it's a wonderful film.

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Post #: 117

Benjamin Button - 14/7/2009 5:26:22 PM

ClintJ

Posts: 5
Joined: 7/7/2009
From: Wiltshire

The problem with this film is that, apart from the obvious ageing issue, just not much else of interest actually happens to Benjamin. The first act is excellent giving a fascinating introduction to his life, with good pacing and a very Forrest Gump like narrative (which isn't a bad thing!). The final act is heart warming and not too predictable, sending you away ultimatly satisfied. But it,s the middle of the film that seems to suffer as it's long, drawn out and seems to have been filled with extra footage just to give it a respectable running time (the affair with the diplomat's wife seems pointless). As well as being sentimental there are also many funny moments (the pensioner constantly reminding he's been struck by lightning seven times never gets boring) and even though it is clearly different from Fincher's previous films, his signature doesn't go un-noticed (the 'what if' sequence leading to the accident reminds us who's behind the camera). Over all this is an enjoyable movie experience. I put this question to you though... How the hell does a man who is born old, lives his life getting younger and ultimately becomes a baby again, avoid the government and media radar!?

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Post #: 118

RE: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - 19/8/2009 2:45:31 PM

lamby

Posts: 97
Joined: 18/10/2005

I rewatched this last night and I must say it is a truly magical film. It does have a few problems in regards to that I found Daisy unlikeable at times, but I think this perhaps was intended.

However, upon going to HMV to order the DVD i stumbled across the below review that I find quite ridiculous!

"
Okay, so I didnt expect this film to be realistic so when I sat down to watch it, I relaxed and let as much as possible fly over my head but I'm sorry, this film was SO unrealstic.
I will accept the fact that it is going to be unrealstic because its about a baby born as a old man and its roughly around this point that it started going wrong. When Benjamin is born, the father abrupty whips this 'baby' out of the house and runs through the packed street, cradling this baby while the baby is doing a rather new born screaming (considering it is a old man and not a baby) for it then to be placed on a step where the child is stepped on by a man with a very calm reaction. Surely, being old and new born would of caused this baby to be very fragile and not one person on that street stopped the father to inquire why he was running with a screaming baby?

The bit where Benjamin goes under the bed with the little girl was far too uncomfortable for me. Fincher should of done montages of them bumping into each other, locking eyes not for the pair to be hiding under the bed and for the girl to actually touch his face because at the end of the day, it is a old man and a young girl hiding together.

I also cant help but feel that this shouldnt of been a David Fincher picture, I think it felt like it should of been to a more creative director such as Tim Burton. Maybe this is because it is such a different plot line to the average but combined with the lenghty title, I feel that it should of been handed to someone with a bit more imagination.

All in all, I was not impressed by the film and found it to be a bore for 2 and a half hours, by all means give it a go but rent before you buy."

This person has no bloody clue whatsoever.

< Message edited by lamby -- 19/8/2009 2:46:05 PM >

(in reply to captainrentboy)

Post #: 119

RE: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button - 21/8/2009 7:21:23 AM

Artoo02

Posts: 569
Joined: 30/9/2005

***SPOILERS***

I watched this the other day and I can't say I was overly impressed. Maybe the Oscar attention and the fact it was directed by Fincher (whose work I love for the most part) raised my expectations too highly, but for film with such a generous running time it all felt a bit empty and plodding. I think the clock running backwards thing at the beginning was interesting, but I was expecting more from both it and the war angle, and it ended up feeling like a tacked-on gimmick to make it feel more important than it actually was. I also didn't really care about most of the characters.

Nicely shot, nicely acted, decent effects... but sadly I felt a bit bored by it all, and that's never been true of any other David Fincher movie I've seen.

I think worst aspect of it all for me was that it felt almost 'embarrassed' to have this fantastical element to it. As if the reverse-ageing was something to try and get around, rather than consider, something that was there only to mark it out from an otherwise run-of-the-mill life story but never really got the chance to properly run with the idea. The counter-argument would be that it was merely being subtle, but I would say it was just an underdeveloped idea in an overlong film. It felt like they had this other film they wanted to make, but had to weave in the short story's basic concept almost for the sake of it, then decided they didn't need to bother with anything more for the characters or story.

I guess it's another one of those supposed 'masterpieces' that I'm glad I've ticked off the list but in all honesty have no interest in watching ever again. But good luck to all those who loved it, I can see some of its charms, it just didn't grab me.

*** Three highly subjective stars.

_____________________________

"Let us go forth together in search of the treasure of Lapis Lazuli! Have no fear. Space is deformed on the night of the new moon."
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"Star Wars is Forever, Roger. And you can Suck it."

(in reply to lamby)

Post #: 120