Movie Review: Inglourious Basterds

I liked Inglourious Basterds but found it a little long. I don't think it will be as memorable as Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs.

To all the people that complain that it's not historically accurate, it begins with "Once upon a time..." and the ending should make it clear that accuracy wasn't it's goal. To those that think you shouldn't fictionalize such a serious subject, that eliminates lots of movies.

I think only Quentin Tarantino could come up with a "Jews get revenge on Nazis during WWII" film that is based around a movie and a movie theater. The opening credits used five different fonts, each suggesting a different era of film. The soundtrack seems to consist solely of music from other films. I assume there were tons of character names and scenes that suggest other films; I only got a few of them.

The film is best when showing long conversations with inherent tension and it does this a lot, usually with an SS or Gestapo questioning someone and being all too polite about it. There's some gore but it's quick and not particularly glorified, well except a couple of times when it is, and those are film references. This is all about the tension leading up to the violence.

The characters are not quite caricatures but stretch film archetypes just to the edges of believability and probably a bit beyond. Some films hide the real life figures by just showing the back of their head or suggesting their presence in scenes. Tarantino uses Hitler as just another larger than life character (played by German actor Martin Wuttke). At one point I expected him to start dancing with a balloon globe just to reference Chaplin, but he didn't. Maybe it's more skill to make me think of it without having to explicitly show it.

I also appreciated that the plot is involved, or more precisely that he takes the time to introduce everyone and their backgrounds and see how a lot of different actions connect. Unlike some Tarantino, the story telling is linear and there are even asides to help explain things so you can follow along with the story. When someone mentions that film stock is very flammable, the film cuts to a Samuel L. Jackson narrated scene explaining this, complete with a clip of a Hitchcock film that used this fact as a plot device. It all adds up to long scenes of building tension that all build up to a film climax that goes over the top (while referencing a classic over-the-top scene).

I had some issues with the film. I found it a bit long. Some of the scenes do go on and on and I don't think there are any lines that are as quotable or memorable as most of the lines in Pulp Fiction. Aside from a couple of individual scenes, I liked that most took their time, but to help the overall film, I think a few should have been cut down. Also while there were some interesting shots, there weren't as many as I expected and some were just annoying, particularly one where the camera pans between three people over and over while they're talking. It reminded me of the opening of Dune and that's not a good reference.

I also had issues with some of the casting. Brad Pitt is just wonderfully fun as Lt. Aldo Raine and Christoph Waltz is brilliantly creepy as SS Col. Hans Landa. But there were a couple of choices that weren't in keeping with the rest of the larger than life cast; "Oh look, Mike Myers doing his British voice" and "Hey, it's the guy from The Office".

I had heard a number of friends say this was their second favorite Tarantino film, most with differing first choices. For me, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are still high above the others and this falls into the pot of the others. For two hours it was a lot of fun and the end was also fun and had a few surprises though I checked my watch twice because some of the earlier scenes ran long. As with Kill Bill and Death Proof some scenes will stand out for me, but there's nothing as indelible as "Stuck in the Middle With You" or most of Pulp Fiction.