As you all may know by now, I'm a huge David Fincher fan. I remember seeing the trailer for this movie and being absolutely mesmerized. And I remember thinking : this is going to be Fincher's masterpiece. I know Fincher doesn't write his movies, and I think that technically speaking, this is his greatest achievement yet. But I'll get to that later. I really liked this movie. Not as much as I thought I would when I saw the trailer, but I'm glad I, after reading a bunch of reviews, reajusted my expectations, and went to see it. As you may all know by now, this movie is about Benjamin Button who ages backward.
What kept me from absolutely adoring this movie was some little details here and there. It didn't ruin anything, its exactly the kind of long love story I really like, but it kept it from becoming my new Fincher favorite.
I feel that he really improves from movie to movie and I think that as a director, Benjamin Button is the culmination of his career. The mood, the tone, every scene is spot on. It's warm, it's thrilling, and touching, and for that, Fincher is my hero. Every single of his movies has this dark and eerie undertone which is just perfect. But it is not my favorite of his. Why ?
Well, the script had those little details that bothered me just a little. First, the story's as a journal, I was fine with that but I felt that the Katrina subplot wasn't necessary at all. And also, halfway through the movie, he just got stuck at the same age for a while because I felt that was kinda convenient story-wise.
That bothered me a bit.
A friend of mine said she found the movie to be a bit cliché, but that didn't bother me this much. See it like this : this is an archetypal Hollywood movie. In a box, ready for the Academy Awards. It doesn't make it bad, far from that, it really is a great film, but it sure has the romance and the scenes going with it that may be a bit cliché.
In all seriousness, I can't wait for his next one. They are rumors about a Black Hole adaptation, a Torso adaptation (both acclaimed graphic novels) and a Heavy Metal live-action with Zach Snyder, Guillermo Del Toro and Gore Verbinski all directing segments (Fanboy moment : OMFG!!!!!). I think that since Zodiac, Fincher's really on the top of his game.
All in all, a very good movie. Not his best, not his worst, but a very welcome addition to his amazing filmography.
