Random Movie: Inglourious Basterds (2009)

I will just come right out and say that Inglourious Basterds is a great film. You may want to watch it twice at least, to appreciate all of it. I had to do that with Jackie Brown as well, another Quentin Tarantino film. I found this movie MUCH more enjoyable than Death Proof, which made me want to eat a grenade during some of the slower parts. I get it Quentin, you love movies. And yes, it was an expert replica of the Grindhouse genre. So much so that I did not care for it.

I will preface the synopsis of Basterds by telling you that this is not a complete factual account of events during World War II. The basic plot is simple: folks want to kill Hitler. There is a group called the Basterds. This is a group led by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Raine has charged his men with the task of collecting 100 Nazi scalps a piece (there are 9 of them total, counting Raine). In this group is "The Bear Jew," (Eli Roth) who is particularly brutal. In addition to the Basterds, there is also Shosanna Dreyfus, whose family was killed by Nazis while hiding. She is the only survivor. In typical Tarantino fashion, these plans cross paths, but the parties involved know nothing of each other.

The standout in this film is Christoph Waltz, as Col. Hans Landa, or "The Jew Hunter." It certainly was the most well written character, and Waltz is simply outstanding. Right from the opening scene, he blew me away. Landa is very good at what he does, and knows it and Waltz does a fantastic job playing the sort of Columbo approach Landa employs; already knowing what is going on, but kind of pretending like he doesn't, and sometimes, getting his prey to participate in the revelation of what he knows. Brad Pitt was excellent as well, although he is not in the film as much as the trailers would lead you to believe. Pitt always does this kind of goofy smirk thing in all his roles (maybe not in that episode of Growing Pains) and it kind of affects his speech, but it actually works quite well here. Some odd casting choices: B.J. Novak (The Office), Eli Roth (Hostel) and Mike Myers (Austin Powers). I find the first 2 odd because they are not really actors; Novak is a writer/producer and Roth is a Director. Neither one of them can act. Mike Myers just seems odd in his scene, perhaps as my friend Phil put it best, because he is not really over the top, but he is definitely being SNL-ish. I found some other things slightly odd, as well. There are a few languages spoken in this film, it being about Nazi Occupied France. When French was spoken, in the subtitles, the words Oui and Merci were sometimes translated in to English, but other times left in French. I do not get that at all. In fact, it bothered my OCD quite a bit. Also, there were a couple of moments in the film that were narrated by Samuel L. Jackson. They seemed a bit oddly out of place as the film's overall style was a relatively normal one, as opposed to the usual Tarantino film. The narration seemed like it would be a better fit in one of his others.

There is the usual Tarantino fare with references to some of his favorite films and some of his own films. He makes 2 small and lineless (thank God) cameos. But overall, this was a different kind of film for him. No backwards storytelling, not the same bunch of actors (if you don't count the voices of Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel). I have a pretty decent record of seeing almost all of Tarantino's films in the theatre (only one I missed: Death Proof) and have yet to leave disappointed. I waited to buy the DVD and watch it a second time before revewing, because as I have found, some of his films need a second viewing. Even though the running time is over 2 and half hours, every single second is neccessary and goes by without dragging. A fine film indeed.