Paramount/Criterion (USA)
NTSC, 2.40:1 16x9 enhanced
165 minutes
Audio: DD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: audio commentary; pre-production, production, post-production featurettes; photo galleries; theatrical trailers
Released: 5 May 2009
When you look at the list of movies directed by David Fincher, it seems like he enjoys entertaining a bleak worldview, one filled with extraordinary violence and emotional trauma. “A David Fincher Film” is automatically the antithesis of Hollywood banality and false assurances, right? What can one make of 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, then? It really is a re-make of Forrest Gump (Eric Roth wrote both movies), complete with saccharine smarm and atrocious inanities.
Benjamin Button received 10 Oscar nominations and took home 3 awards. Even though there’ve been reports indicating that Fincher was inspired to tackle this story due to his feelings about his father, I still think there’s a chance that this movie is an elaborate joke. Perhaps Fincher decided to make an obviously “Hollywood” movie to see if he would finally get an Oscar nomination. I imagine him laughing at the AMPAS when he heard of his nomination and not laughing because of gratitude.
Brad Pitt plays the titular protagonist as an easygoing, passive dullard. Cate Blanchett is about as annoying here as she was in The Aviator. Everyone else plays a stereotype or a caricature. The script churns out master-of-the-obvious platitudes by the ton. Even though Benjamin Button looks rather disgusting in some scenes, just about every woman he meets wants to have sex with him; is this due to Roth and Fincher’s sexism or Pitt’s narcissism? Perhaps everything bad about this movie is part of Fincher’s elaborate joke?
The movie is being released on Blu-ray and DVD with the Criterion logo slapped on the cover art. Benjamin Button, alongside Michael Bay’s The Rock and Armageddon, proves that Criterion isn’t above reproach when it comes to taste.
Video:
The 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer is a huge step down from the Blu-ray transfer. Detail and sharpness drop by such a huge amount that the SD image looks “darker” (even though it probably isn’t in terms of lumens) because objects look muddy and indistinct. This has a huge impact on the make-up’s effectiveness in conveying the main character’s age regression.
Audio:
The DD 5.1 English is vigorous when it should be (such as during battle sequences and inclement weather). Otherwise, for the most part, you get dialogue accompanied by pleasantly-mixed period music. The sound design also contains subtle but noticeable ambient cues for specific locations (bars, hotels, Broadway theatres, etc.).
Extras:
Disc 1 offers an audio commentary by David Fincher.
Disc 2 contains featurettes that can be viewed as one long documentary that rivals the main feature in length. In fact, the “documentary” option is so long that some featurettes still have to be selected for separate viewing. These featurettes cover the movie’s genesis, production, and release. You also get several photo galleries and theatrical trailers.
--Miscellaneous--An insert booklet provides an essay by Kent Jones as well as movie and DVD production credits. You also get a cardboard slipcover.
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