Inglourious Basterds: Quentin Tarantino's World War II Flick
"Inglourious Basterds" is a film that has been rumored and talked about for nearly a decade. It was talked about like one would talk about Big foot or the Loch Ness monster, a myth with little truth. For years the only thing I knew about it was that it was "Quentin Tarantino's world war II film." That was it. After the long wait "Inglourious Basterds" was finally released nationwide on August 21st. The real question now becomes was the film worth the wait or was it just something that should have stayed an epic myth?
The trailer for the film would lead one to believe that the film would follow the exploits of Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his Jewish American, 8 man unit known as the "basterds" as they slaughter as many Nazi as possible (I mean why wouldn't you? Even the posters for the film seem to lead to that conclusion with sayings like "Brad Pitt is a Basterd.") However that's hardly the case. In fact the basterds are actually only a small part of the grander scheme of the film. The film takes place in an alternate reality of World War II. The main plot is centered around a plan to kill Hitler as he attends a movie premier of a German Propaganda film, "Nation's Pride," in a theater in Paris. But since this is a Tarantino film the plan doesn't go exactly as planned.
The film is long clocking in at a little under 2 hours and 30 minutes. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the pacing for the film were consistent, which it wasn't. There were moments where I was on the edge of my seat (not literally but you know what I mean) then in the span of a few minutes I would be falling asleep. It just really didn't work for me. Tarantino is a writer who has a this natural ability to write dialogue that flows smoothly and can be witty without appearing contrived. For the record I love the way he writes dialogue. The problem in "Inglourious Basterds" is that he could be too good. The film has many scene with straight dialogue for literally 30 minutes without a single scene change. Even though the dialogue is pretty stellar it gets dull when just a few minutes prior you were watching a man being beaten to death with a baseball bat. It doesn't help that the dialogue is mostly in French or German and requires subtitles for us unrefined single language speaking Americans. Having to read just lines of dialogue did become tedious.
The film bills Brad Pitt as the star but he really doesn't get the screen time you would expect for a "star" of the film. I think it's a bit misleading. This leads me to my next complaint. I felt like the characters were never really fleshed out. No one really had any back story. Everyone was just characterized by what nation they were from. It's a shame because the characters had personality and I would have really liked to know a bit more about them. I mean at the end of the film me and my friend were trying to figure out what happened to a few members of the basterds and honestly for the life of us we couldn't. They just kind of disappeared from the film. Tarantino could have possibly been trying to show that in wartime soldiers as individuals are less important than the greater mission. The characters definitely were playing second fiddle to the plot in this case.
I was expecting a kick ass soundtrack but in this case I was disappointed. The most disappointing aspect of the film in fact has to be the soundtrack. Usually when I watch a Tarantino movie the soundtrack almost always sticks with me long after I've seen the film. To this day whenever I hear "Stuck in the middle with you" I immediately think about the infamous ear cutting scene from "Reservoir Dogs." But in this case there is really no song with that kind of lasting impression. The only somewhat memorable song was "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" bu David Bowie. Even by saying that I'm really stretching.
From the things I've said I may seem really harsh on the film. But in reality I did enjoy it. I think "Inglourious Basterds" like many Tarantino films grow on you upon multiple viewings. I remember when I first watched "Deathproof," I absolutely hated it. However watching it on dvd a second time from the comfort of my own home I enjoyed it. I think this film has the same kind of mechanic. Out of all of Tarantino's films I think "Inglourious Basterds" holds a shaky three for me vying with Kill Bill vol. 1 for that spot. The top two are pretty obvious, "Pulp Fiction," and "Reservoir Dogs." But if you are a fan of his work I would definitely recommend seeing this film. You won't be disappointed. If you aren't a fan and are expecting to seeing an action film you're going to be disappointed.
To end I just want to make crystal clear to anyone reading, this is NOT an action movie! If that's what you were expecting throw out that notion before you head into the theater. You'll thank me for it. I promise :)
The trailer for the film would lead one to believe that the film would follow the exploits of Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his Jewish American, 8 man unit known as the "basterds" as they slaughter as many Nazi as possible (I mean why wouldn't you? Even the posters for the film seem to lead to that conclusion with sayings like "Brad Pitt is a Basterd.") However that's hardly the case. In fact the basterds are actually only a small part of the grander scheme of the film. The film takes place in an alternate reality of World War II. The main plot is centered around a plan to kill Hitler as he attends a movie premier of a German Propaganda film, "Nation's Pride," in a theater in Paris. But since this is a Tarantino film the plan doesn't go exactly as planned.
The film is long clocking in at a little under 2 hours and 30 minutes. That wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing if the pacing for the film were consistent, which it wasn't. There were moments where I was on the edge of my seat (not literally but you know what I mean) then in the span of a few minutes I would be falling asleep. It just really didn't work for me. Tarantino is a writer who has a this natural ability to write dialogue that flows smoothly and can be witty without appearing contrived. For the record I love the way he writes dialogue. The problem in "Inglourious Basterds" is that he could be too good. The film has many scene with straight dialogue for literally 30 minutes without a single scene change. Even though the dialogue is pretty stellar it gets dull when just a few minutes prior you were watching a man being beaten to death with a baseball bat. It doesn't help that the dialogue is mostly in French or German and requires subtitles for us unrefined single language speaking Americans. Having to read just lines of dialogue did become tedious.
The film bills Brad Pitt as the star but he really doesn't get the screen time you would expect for a "star" of the film. I think it's a bit misleading. This leads me to my next complaint. I felt like the characters were never really fleshed out. No one really had any back story. Everyone was just characterized by what nation they were from. It's a shame because the characters had personality and I would have really liked to know a bit more about them. I mean at the end of the film me and my friend were trying to figure out what happened to a few members of the basterds and honestly for the life of us we couldn't. They just kind of disappeared from the film. Tarantino could have possibly been trying to show that in wartime soldiers as individuals are less important than the greater mission. The characters definitely were playing second fiddle to the plot in this case.
I was expecting a kick ass soundtrack but in this case I was disappointed. The most disappointing aspect of the film in fact has to be the soundtrack. Usually when I watch a Tarantino movie the soundtrack almost always sticks with me long after I've seen the film. To this day whenever I hear "Stuck in the middle with you" I immediately think about the infamous ear cutting scene from "Reservoir Dogs." But in this case there is really no song with that kind of lasting impression. The only somewhat memorable song was "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" bu David Bowie. Even by saying that I'm really stretching.
From the things I've said I may seem really harsh on the film. But in reality I did enjoy it. I think "Inglourious Basterds" like many Tarantino films grow on you upon multiple viewings. I remember when I first watched "Deathproof," I absolutely hated it. However watching it on dvd a second time from the comfort of my own home I enjoyed it. I think this film has the same kind of mechanic. Out of all of Tarantino's films I think "Inglourious Basterds" holds a shaky three for me vying with Kill Bill vol. 1 for that spot. The top two are pretty obvious, "Pulp Fiction," and "Reservoir Dogs." But if you are a fan of his work I would definitely recommend seeing this film. You won't be disappointed. If you aren't a fan and are expecting to seeing an action film you're going to be disappointed.
To end I just want to make crystal clear to anyone reading, this is NOT an action movie! If that's what you were expecting throw out that notion before you head into the theater. You'll thank me for it. I promise :)
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