Inglourious Basterds - Review

[trahison]

Absolutely brilliant. I'm on quite a purple patch with films of recent, having seen Public Enemies, No Country For Old Men , and The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford all in the past month.

This may be one of Tarantino's best. Whilst I didn't like Death Proof as I felt it had problems with over extended, banal dialogue, this film delivered in that sense. The drawn out scenes did not feel too long and the dialogue had the classic trademarks of Tarantino at his best - witty, inflective and the main driver for the building of tension in the film. The two best scenes ( opening one in house and the one in the basement tavern) hammer this point home, given that they are both the longest in the film and use the spoken word to build the drama and intensity. We also get the usual Leone ( and other fave directors of Tarantino )esque nods and various in-jokes ( I'm sure the stand off in the tavern is a humourous parody on the end of Reservoir Dogs).

Furthermore, this film was riotously funny at points. I'm not the biggest fan of the comedy genre of film, I find more reward in a film that has other things to say as its core, and surprises you with its humour. The humour here is acerbic and quick and also has a heavy reliance on the actors hamming up their Nazi roles. This may fill some with dread, but it just seems right in these circumstances ( a completely fictional re enactment of WW2). Mike Myers has a superb cameo, as its comical in itself to think that, one of the most highly regarded modern directors of his generation, employs a star of throwaway spoof humour to play asmall role upon which you can literally see about 6 Austin Powers characters oozing through.

Melanie Laurent is a revelation to me in her role. The acting she does, with nothing more than her eyes, in the scenes at tea with the Nazis tell a thousand emotions and she's just damned adorable to look at. Pitt's southern drawl displays the kind of comic timing we've seen fleetingly before ( True Romance springs to mind ) and Sylvester Groth playing Goebbals is pant wettingly funny. Eli Roth wasn't unbearable, if a touch unbelievable (but I don't really care) and the rest of the cast did their jobs. Christoph Waltz as Landa deserves special mention too.


Go and see this film people, its simply tremendous.

[ken]

Review in a Hurry: Though the misleading marketing would have you believe it's an action flick about Brad Pitt kicking Kraut keisters from here to eternity, Quentin Tarantino's revisionist take on World War II actually unfolds more as a series of suspense-laden conversations. And he's really, really good at doing them.

The Bigger Picture: In an alternate, Tarantino-verse version of Nazi-occupied France, we follow two separate plots to kill Hitler and his top generals at the premiere of Joseph Goebbels' newest propaganda film, in which an actual German war hero (Daniel Bruhl) reenacts the events that brought him glory.

One plot involves the theater owner, a Frenchwoman formerly known as Shosanna (Mélanie Laurent) hiding her true Jewish identity—and tragic backstory—beneath a pseudonym. Her plan involves locking the doors and burning the theater down.

The other involves the "Basterds" of the title, a gang of Jewish-American soldiers led by Redneck-American Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), who specialize in beating Nazis to death and removing their scalps (shown explicitly in one scene, and mostly left to your imagination thereafter). Coordinating with British intelligence, their goal is to somehow infiltrate the premiere to take out the top guys.

Hot on the trail of all involved is the creepy Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), nicknamed "The Jew Hunter," who has a near-psychic ability to see through any deception, usually during the course of a seemingly low-key conversation with his intended victim.

Waltz as an actor proves to be the best match for Tarantino's dialogue since Samuel L. Jackson—his ability to mix casual chitchat with a dark undercurrent of menace (in three different languages, no less) makes him a mesmerizing presence, and a near-lock for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination. He's arguably the smartest onscreen psychopath since Hannibal Lecter.

Right upfront, Tarantino makes clear that what we are seeing is not reality, but is, emphatically, a movie. First, he conspicuously has two characters who are German and French, respectively, suddenly start speaking English for the benefit of the audience (though this does turn out to serve a plot point moments later). Then, he adds incongruous music choices (spaghetti-western-style score here, a David Bowie song there), a flashback hero montage with '70s-style onscreen titles for Til Schweiger's character, periodic narration by Sam Jackson and Mike Myers in old-man makeup as a British general.

Fans familiar with Tarantino will also recognize many of his hallmarks—the seemingly important character who gets suddenly, unexpectedly killed (even if you think you know who's gonna survive...you don't); the endless talk about cinema and pop-culture (turns out the director knows just as much about '40s German films as he does blaxploitation and kung fu!); the Mexican stand-off; and of course the inevitable fixation on female feet. If the story itself weren't so strong, these devices might seem tedious (as they did in Death Proof), but they're only seasoning here to a far richer dish.

The rule with Tarantino movies is the reverse of the old unofficial Star Trek rule: It's the odd-numbered ones that are the best, while the evens tend to be bloated with excessive windbaggery. Inglourious Basterds may well get accused of the latter, but in fact it's the former: a long movie, yes, but one in which every suspenseful moment counts.

The 180—a Second Opinion: Those who actually lived through World War II, or had loved ones die in it, may find Tarantino's approach to be inappropriately frivolous.

[Chief]

Good reviews guys, thanks