Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino's long awaited jump into WWII in which he tells of a group of Jewish-American Special Forces soldiers who live behind the Nazi lines, brutally killing and scalping Nazi soldiers in an effort to strike fear throughout the German army. Permanently scarring the deliberate survivors of their conflicts, the group have called themselves "The Basterds" and their horrific acts have definitely formed a reputation, which precedes them.
The Basterds' journey leads them to an opportunity to end WWII, which they intend to take with the help of the British Army and a German double-agent, unaware that this opportunity is also present for Emmanuelle Mimieux, the adopted persona of Shosanna Dreyfus, a Jewish girl who in 1941 escaped the clutches of SS Officer Colonel Hans Landa, known as "The Jew Hunter", having witnessed him murder her entire family. The Basterds' and Shosanna's paths merge at her small cinema in Paris, where their opportunity to end the war lies in the form of a Nazi movie premiere held to entertain the entire German High Command.
There are two Quentin Tarantinos in my book; Classic Tarantino and Egotistical Tarantino. Classic Tarantino made Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and wrote From Dusk Till Dawn. Egotistical Tarantino made Kill Bill Volumes 1 & 2 and Death Proof. Egotistical Tarantino is too big for his boots, he uses gimmicks and uses the few films he directs as drawing boards to try and find the method/genre he prefers and then expects everyone to love it because it has his name stamped all over it. Classic Tarantino just makes brilliant, gritty, well-written movies that are far from forgettable.
Thankfully, Classic Tarantino directed Inglourious Basterds and Egotistical Tarantino was nowhere to be seen.
It's a long film, very long and at times I was bored I have to admit, however those times were not often and were soon forgotten about after quick bout of action or a scene involving Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) or Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), both of whom offered decidedly different perfomances but each fantastic in their own right.
I was unsure about Brad Pitt at first, I didn't think his accent would agree with me. I very rapidly learnt to love it though and Aldo Raine and the Basterds became the intermittent supply of comic relief between some overly long scenes of dialog that was desperately needed. Brad Pitt was good, very good as were the rest of them, but not one person in this film could top the performance of Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa. The movie opens with him in his role as "The Jew Hunter" and he is quite clearly a methodical, precise, calm and collected monster, who is an absolute pleasure to watch. I have no words to describe the character and Waltz's performance other than brilliant, simply brilliant. His every movement lent something to the scene, the way he drinks a drink, or eats in between sentences, the sound of the fork scraping his teeth as it leaves his mouth, it was almost hypnotising. There were times when I just stopped listening to what he was saying because I was mesmerised by his mannerisms.
Obviously, the performances of any of the actors in Inglourious Basterds has a lot to do with the genius dialog of Tarantino and when I was listening, it was very apparent that Tarantino was back on form. However, though wonderful, there was a bloody lot of talking and when I first left the film my thoughts were that about 40 minutes could have been cut. Having had some time to think about it, I've realised that there was no uneccessary speech in the film, it was all needed in some way or another, and the thing I was really craving was action.
I wanted to see the exploits of the Basterds. I wanted to see them pay their debt of 100 Nazi scalps. I wanted to see them take out entire Nazi outfits in ruined french towns. Instead, I was only permitted to hear about it. I appreciate that a film that followed a group of 8 soldiers slaughtering Nazis would probably get boring after a while, and that the scenes we did see were enough to suggest the antics of the Basterds, but I just wanted a bit more. Tarantino seemed to labour the point a little in some areas and I just wish he'd have reach the action quicker and maybe given a little more of it. There is a scene in a bar that just drags on and on in this back and forth exchange between characters, postponing the inevitable for ages, when it could have been a relatively quick process.
I mentioned that the Basterds provided the comic relief and they really do, though the comic relief list is not exclusive to the Basterds. Hans Landa is pretty funny himself, as is Hitler. There were quite a few laugh out loud scenes, even some that ordinarily would be pretty disturbing. Violence in Inglourious Basterds is funny, and that is 100% intended and if you don't crack up hearing Lt Aldo Raine's Italian then something is desperately wrong with you.
I came away from Inglourious Basterds thinking it was too long, there wasn't enough action and there was too much dialog. Having thought about it for a while, I am actually pretty satisfied with the movie and don't think I would change a thing, in fact I kind of want to see it again. What I would like though is a prequel from Tarantino following the Basterds on their journey to notoriety through a mound of dead Nazis! Basterds is a must-watch and I think it's one of Tarantino's best movies. Actually I think it's his third best but it's bloody good, very funny, pretty tense, and immensely enjoyable. Thank you Classic Tarantino.
Note to Mike Myers: Your English accent will forever remind me of Austin Powers.
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