Inglorious Basterds Review
I’ve seen almost ever Tarantino movie, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Death Proof, True Romance and just a little bit of Kill Bill. From that amount of Tarantino, Inglorious Basterds is the best, and it’s not by a small margin.
Now important to keep in mind here is personal preference, obviously. Tarantino’s long scenes of dialogue about things like Royale with Cheese don’t do anything for me, and I thought that Pulp Fiction‘s structure was not particularly revolutionary (to be fair though I only saw it years after its release).
What I really like about Inglorious Basterds is it takes the things I have previously not liked about Tarantino, such as the aforementioned long-winded dialogue, and uses them in a different way than say Pulp Fiction or Death Proof.
The story is almost like a dialogue writer’s version of an action movie. Yes there are some shootouts, but basically it’s a number of dialogue set pieces. Long conversations fraught with underlying tension and danger, where one wrong word will expose the “good guy” (usually in some fashion or another operation undercover in Nazi territory).
Propping up the majority of this dialogue is Christopher Waltz, whose Hans Landa is such an effective villain he transcends simply being a good or bad guy and is just fun to watch. You almost don’t want to see him go down, because it would mean Waltz’s performance would end.
Random note: I speak English and French, and found Waltz’s French as flawless as any other Frenchmen I’ve known.
The guy has got major skills, and his performance is the biggest draw of Basterds.
That being said Tarantino has plenty of other goodies up his sleeve, the strongest being the consistently humorous tone of the film. It’s very close to being a comedy with bits of drama and action and thriller thrown in.
Brad Pitt has a lot of fun overacting a smidge with his southerner accent and jutting chin in what is ultimately a supporting role despite the marketing suggesting otherwise.
Tarantino’s kindred spirit Eli Roth is perfectly fine in a bit role as Donnie Donowitz, exuding the appropriate intensity and light comic touch when called for.
The occasional departures in form are also welcome, such as the use of contemporary music and an extended interlude explaining the origin of a german soldier turned Basterd.
Even Mike Myers, whose role in the film has been criticized in some quarters, is sort of fun in a goofy British scene that probably feels a bit too close to Austin Powers to perfectly fit but is enjoyable nonetheless.
At two and a half hours, with an ensemble storyline, for this film to fly by as quickly as it does is a big credit to Tarantino and Co.
This is a really fun movie, and a great way to end the summer on a high note.