Saturday, December 12, 2009

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

So, I didn't really expect to like this a lot, from what I had read about it- up to this one I liked all of his movies that I've seen, some (Panic Room) in opposition to whatever critical consensus I'd found, but the descriptions and reviews all sounded pretty bad. The most damning one compared it to Forrest Gump, and in watching it that was pretty much all I could think of.

It's relentlessly picturesque, it's slathered with voiceover, the main character has an ineffable wisdom that expresses itself as naivete, there's a central romance that ends tragically and defines the arc of the plot, and it goes through all sorts of historical moments en route. It doesn't have the underlying 'unthinking is better' motive of Gump, it doesn't have the cute little meetings with historical figures, but it does feature fate in a prominent role and it is altogther boring.

There are some moments, some bits of humor and pretty shots and cynicism slipping in, but it's just not a good movie. I don't really see anything in it of what I like about Fincher, just a central conceit that doesn't really matter- nearly everything about the story could be equally easily told with a character who ages normally. I don't hate it, but I don't think I'll keep it, either.

No comments:

Post a Comment