I’m really not a Tarantino fan at all. Sure, I saw Kill Bill 1 & 2, and I saw Planet Terror/Deathproof. The latter two were pretty lackluster films, and that sentiment seemed to trickle down even to the most committed die-hard fans of the bizarre director. I feel as if that whenever you talk Tarantino movies, there’s always going to be that one person in the room who loves him, loves the movies, and will defend him until you’re tired of the argument. That’s part of the reason I tend to stay away from talking about his stuff too often, but as noted, I’m just not a huge fan of his work. Well, I’m not entirely sure what the reaction from the die-hard fans is, but after watching Inglourious Basterds, I fell in love with this movie on a number of levels. Consider me a Tarantino fan, for at least this one.
Brad Pitt and 'the basterds' were wildly entertaining thanks to great writing and acting. (Weinstein Co/aceshowbiz.com)
The previews and widely known premise gave just a glimpse of what this movie was going to be like. Six American, Jewish soldiers, during WWII in France known as the “Basterds” go around killing Nazi’s. Putting their war crimes right back on them. Disfiguring them as they disfigured so many others. But it’s made so cleverly, and it’s so very well written and acted, that the 2 1/2 hour run-time seems to really fly by. If someone else had directed this movie, it would never have turned out so right, and I’m even lumping my favorite directors up there too. A Spielberg take on this? Wouldn’t work. It needed Tarantino as much as he needed this.
A good beginning to any movie is as important as anything. It sets the tone for the entire film and immediately removes you from your cushy movie theater chair and plops you right into whatever world that movie takes place in. Basterds beginnings with a true bang, but it’s not just mindless or gruesome violence. There is a small cabin scene where a dairy farmer is hiding a Jewish family. The anticipation, drama, acting, and tension rise…rise…rise as the conversation between this farmer and an SS guard carry on. It’s completely silent, yet it grows louder and louder to the audience. Brilliant use of cut away camerawork and the finest writing and acting make this long piece of dialogue exciting and leave you breathless. The culmination of the scene is no letdown either.
Pieces of dialogue, sometimes lasting 20 minutes or more, never ran dry and were as exciting as the actual action. (Weinstein Co/aceshowbiz.com)
That, the long pieces of dialogue, is perhaps the best part of this movie. Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of bloodshed, and some of it is pretty gruesome. Hell, the whole end sequence is shooting Nazis until there’s no bullet left unused. But you might be surprised that Brad Pitt, Lt. Aldo Raine, and his soldiers, aren’t killing the Nazis for the majority of the film. Nobody is killing anybody for the majority of it, the dialogue is carrying you from scene to scene. There are stretches of dialogue that last up to 20, maybe 30 minutes, but it never seems dry. The writing is in top form in Basterds and is as creative as it is captivating.
You obviously can have the best writing in the world, the most magnificent script ever, and have it fail miserably due to the wrong actors. Basterds had the perfect actors. The Jewish soldiers themselves were terrific, some seen on screen more often than the others. Funny and brutal, furious and calming. Brad Pitt was awesome, for lack of a better word. Some people won’t ever love this guy, thinking he’s a pretty boy actor, not to be taken seriously. Did his job in Benjamin Button last year deserve an Oscar nomination? I didn’t think so, even though he was damn good. But his body of work speaks very loudly and positively. My notion on Pitt changed back when I first saw Fight Club, which is probably his best role to this day. Following that: Snatch, Oceans 11, Troy, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Assassination of Jesse James, Burn After Reading….those are some damn good movies. I mean, some of those are really good. What’s most impressive is the variance between them. He nailed them all and not one is like another listed there – his range speaks loudly. Add Aldo Raine to that list. The Tennessee talkin’, Nazi killin’, cocky, funny leader of the whole damn group. He sizzles and grabs attention whenever he’s on screen.
Putting Pitt aside, as I said before, his group of men weren’t on screen for a ton of time. That left room for other actors to shine as well. Melanie Laurent was terrific as the child and then theater owner. Diane Kruger was very good as their German actress spy. But the show stealer without doubt was Christoph Waltz, as Col. Hans Landa of the SS. His little quirks, both mesmerizing and funny, were fantastic. He had charm but cold blooded determination. He was probably the most unique character out of a bunch of very bizarre people.
The acting was top-notch, and while Pitt was great in his own right, Christoph Waltz was terrific. (Weinstein Co/aceshowbiz.com)
When I write reviews, it’s obviously personal – it’s what I think of each film. But this movie was more personal than that. It was written in a Jewish newspaper review that this was Jewish fantasy, or Jewish porn. I won’t lie, as someone of the Jewish faith myself, I felt a rush seeing Eli Roth as one of the basterds shoot the living hell out of Hitler. The Nazi flags burning, the swing of the bat to their heads, the destruction of them…one by one…and then picking them off in a crowd at the end, seemed like sweet justice. It’s just a movie, and history unfortunately can’t be re-written. But for 2 1/2 hours, it was the ultimate pleasure to watch Aldo Raine and his boys change history, if only for a few hundred Nazis.
The movie as a whole though, was as satisfying as a film lover too. The acting…extraordinary. The writing…excellent. The tension through camerawork, beautiful dialogue, and other aspects…superb. Everything fell into place so well. And of course there was the Tarantino touch. The carving on the forehead, the gruesome deaths, the bizarre characters, the chapters, and finally, the blazing and loud introduction of Hugo Stiglitz, a basterd. Well done Tarantino, well done.
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS: 
(out of 4)
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: brad pitt, christoph waltz, diane kruger, eli roth, inglorious basterds, inglourious basterds, nazis, quentin tarantino
