Reviews: Benjamin Button & Valkyrie

Lasting Impressions

It's finally here. As the last days of the year start to come to a close, a heavily buzzed film hits cinemas just in time for the holidays. Its main attractions: two huge movie stars opposite each other, a huge, epic scale, big production values, a notable, Oscar-less director and a story that attempts to transcend time and all boundaries. It's a little strange that all of that also describes the feelings associated with Australia, which was released near Thanksgiving. However, one will be very pleased that this film is everything that Baz Lurhman's film tried so desperately to be and failed. It is not only a grand epic with a marvelous technical spectacle, but also has an endearing story that is able to completely immerse one in all its glory.

Using the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald as a jumping off point, the strange story focuses on its title character (Brad Pitt), who had the unusual circumstance of being born as an eighty year old infant who ages backwards as the rest of the world grows old. Left on the doorstep of a retirement home, he's taken in by one of the workers there, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), who becomes his adopted mother. Benjamin then strikes a friendship with one of the resident's granddaughter, Daisy (played as an adult by Cate Blanchett). When Benjamin grows up, he goes off to war and then returns to his Louisiana home. It's here where the film switches gears and becomes a sweeping romance between Benjamin and Daisy.

Even though the film's posters give top billing to Pitt and Blanchett, the real star of this film is actually director David Fincher. I've always admired his magnificent craft as a filmmaker, particularly how he is able to transport us into any setting by always using the available technology. His high-def cameras were used with subtlety in Zodiac (one of my personal favorites from last year) to create the feeling of 1970s San Francisco. Here, the effort is a little louder, but the effect is still the same. Fincher is a true master of film, and if the Best Director lineup at the Oscars turns out to be what I think it will be, then he would certainly have my vote.

Fincher's touch is present in every frame of the technical scale, such as the marvelous art direction, the dim but beautiful cinematography from Claudio Miranda, and Alexandre Desplat's uplifting score is a treasure for the ears. It's the film's makeup and visual effects, however, the deserve the most attention. Not only do they present a realistic illusion, but they are also able to astonish the mind and give plenty of food for thought later on how such accomplishments were achieved. There is a wonderful job to be seen there.

Pitt has worked with Fincher before with Se7en and Fight Club, and Fincher knows how to get a good performance out of him. Here, Pitt is never mind blowingly stunning, but often times Benjamin doesn't need that. Just a glance into Pitt's eyes will make you realize that you're falling into the plight of this character, and he should have some recognition for that. Blanchett isn't bad here, but she has seen better days and often times it feels the chemistry between her and Brad is minimal, which is odd since this is the second time they've played a couple. Still, the rest of the ensemble makes up for it, including a warm performance from Henson, and an intriguing one from Tilda Swinton as the wife of a British spy that Benjamin has an affair with during his time in Russia.

The one place where the film starts to find a great fault is in the script. Eric Roth's most notable work is his Oscar-winning script to Forrest Gump, and he and Robert Zemekis both set out to make a film that was intended to gut you emotionally. For better or worse, it worked. Here, it seems as if the intentions of Roth and Fincher are at different ends, with the script wanting to pour on the sap and the direction wanting the visuals to let the audience come to their own emotional conclusion. That internal struggle in the film is what makes it become an almost three hour movie. That is far too long, and leads to some faults on both sides: Roth's framing device of a bedridden Daisy having her daughter read Benjamin's diary in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina is a bit of a bore, and Fincher is sometimes left to sluggishly pull along during some slow patches that visually can't make up for the scipting. Most of the time, though, Roth knows the right notes to play.

Benjamin Button has accomplished what so many films before it have failed: it's a Best Picture frontrunner that has actually survived its overhyping. It's not a perfect film, but the winning performances, stunning visuals, and the masterful work by Fincher provide a great time at the show. If the fortunes do come true, and this film actually wins Best Picture, I won't have many complaints. So long as Fincher is smiling in the room with his own little golden guy, I'll be smiling as well. ***1/2 / ****; GRADE: A-



Mission Impossible

Admittedly, there is a tremendous amount of potential for this movie to fail. First, there was the halt in production because of an on set accident involving a truckload of extras, then those extras sued Tom Cruise and his company United Artists for damages, then the movie's release date yo-yo-ed between late summer to early fall to Presidents' Day '09 to Christmas '08, then shooting halted again because some necessary German locations were off limits, then you have the role of a German officer being played by Cruise sans accent, the rest of the cast is nearly all British, it's a World War II drama that is released on a joyous holiday, and at the end of the day it's a suspenseful thriller in which the ending is already known. It's a very difficult thing to sell, and some parts of it are not so easy to buy. On the whole, however, is a well made story that does just enough to pull you in.

Based off of one of the many attempted assassinations on Hitler, this one focuses on Col. Von Stauffesberg (Cruise), an irate soldier in Hitler's army who has seen enough bloodshed committed by him and agrees to conspire with a league of other generals, sergeants and majors to plant a bomb near the Fuhrer. The film's title refers to an intricate back up plan that Hitler created to ensure stability in Germany in case he was killed. The conspirators have reorganized the plan in a way that targets the SS from overtaking the government, thus making Hitler's army a coup that will end his grip on the country.

Director Bryan Singer is really a great director. He has a nice talent of channeling his own personal feelings and past obstacles into riveting character studies surrounded by an intriguing plot. His efforts are not wasted here, and his craft feels like a person who is genuinely trying to create an atmosphere of suspense. Sometimes it works, and other times the fact that the ending is already known takes some of that away. Still, Singer, I believe, is one of the great storytellers of today, always providing the same brilliance whether its about intercutting gangsters or superhuman mutants.

Here, Singer also reunites with Christopher McQuarrie, the man who provided the Oscar-winning script to the Singer directed The Usual Suspects. This time, the payoff isn't really that great, and often times the script doesn't feel quite as tight as Singer's direction. The dialogue isn't much here, but the script just wants to present a certain mood, and it accomplishes that most of the time.

The elephant in the room is certainly Tom Cruise in this role. Was he the weakest link? His performance isn't really anything mind blowing, and throughout the entire film he is rather bland. However, I always felt he was so restrained that he never presented an opportunity to be good or bad. He just showed up and let the barrage of British actors upstage him. Maybe that's not so terrible, as when a scene is cluttered with Tom Wilkinson, Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy and Terrence Stamp, the focus is always less on Cruise. There are a few actual Germans peppered in the cast (Thomas Kretschmann is very good as the leader of the Reserved Army), and those few do their best to make it well.

Many have noticed the lack of German accents, or language, in the film. What some don't realize is that the movie already address this issue right from the beginning. The movie opens with Stauffenberg writing in his journal while stationed in North Africa right before an aerial attack leaves him without a hand and an eye. If you listen closely, that's actually Tom Cruise speaking in German before his voice transitions to English. Singer already knows that criticism will come from this casting, so he puts it out there in the beginning to show that while this story takes place in Germany, you'll be hearing it like it's a movie made in English. I think that's alright, and it's a move that shows Singer's good direction. The movie is far from perfect, but there are enough touches to keep you within the moments of the film, and with that, the movie barley wins its uphill battle. *** / ****; GRADE: B