Full disclosure: I’m not a fan of Quentin Tarantino. He is revered as some kind of cinematic genius, so maybe I just don’t get him, but his work is, in my opinion, hit or miss and had steadily worsened.
While I liked both Reservoir Dogs (his first movie) and Pulp Fiction (the one that propelled him to the A-list) I hated Kill Bill: Vol. 1 so much that I didn’t bother watching Vol. 2 (a rarity for me) and I skipped the poorly reviewed Grindhouse. I never saw Jackie Brown, which earned good reviews and I’ll watch it at some point, but I couldn’t pass on Inglourious Basterds, given the stellar reviews, good word of mouth and Best Picture Oscar nomination.
Fortunately, Basterds is a pretty good movie, even though there were a couple things that rubbed me the wrong way. Take Til Schweiger’s character’s introduction, when big, yellow letters are superimposed over his image, on film, like you’d see in a comic book. I’m sorry, I don’t care if someone thinks that’s part of his “genius,” it just looks odd and silly to me. It stands out like and eyesore.
At any rate, the script is good and original, especially for taking the liberty to rewrite history on how World War II ended. That, I grant you, is quite genial, particularly because it’s so unexpected.
Brad Pitt and Diane Kruger do a pretty good job, but it’s Christoph Waltz and Mélanie Laurent that steal the show every time they are on screen. Waltz very deservedly won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, even though I’m pretty sure he gets more screen time than Pitt himself, who got top billing.
Technically, the movie is impeccable. Costumes, art direction, set decoration, cinematography and editing are all great and the score is good too.
Overall, a good movie and another winner for Tarantino (who unfortunately just announced he’s making Kill Bill: Vol. 3 … )
Grade: 8
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