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2 years ago
Inglourious Basterds Review
Ok I’ll try my best not to spoil the movie into oblivion here.
I’m not the biggest Quentin Tarantino follower, I enjoyed Pulp Fiction but wouldn’t put it anywhere near my top 10, and Kill Bills styling grated on me more than it intrigued. Mr Tino does one thing very well; he makes the most seemingly mundane scenes into crafted masterpieces of pacing and undertone. Never is this more evident than Inglourious Basterds.
The movie opens to a farmhouse scene, the first 10 minutes of which I spend in a type of elated agony. Here we are introduced to (in my opinion) the shining star of this film, Col. Hans Landa, Christoph Waltz’s portrayal of this sleek, dangerous Nazi Colonel is one of the most impressive I’ve seen all year. Landa spends the majority of the opening scene interrogating a local dairy farmer and it is here that we are given the first example of the type of scene that will dominate the following two and half hours. Scenes soaked in so much tension that there’s a noticeable intake of air from the audience as they reach their resolution.
This is the major strength of the film, but also one of its most apparent flaws, scenes full of interesting characters talking and just not enough action. I would have given anything to have 30 minutes of this movie (not the bar scene!) replaced with 30 minutes of the Basterds rampaging around Nazi occupied France, gathering scalps and dispensing horrific, horrific vengeance.
The marketing of the film is very clearly directed towards the Basterds being the main entity in this experience, but that place is taken equally by Shosanna, the Jewish survivor from the opening farm scene. Whose quest for vengeance runs parallel with that of the basterds, and let’s not forget the great Col. Landa, who dominates every scene he’s in with a force of character greater than the twang on Pitt’s accent.
Ok this is running longer than I wanted it to, this is a great movie, and probably the best I’ve seen all year. I doubt there are many people that would rank this alongside Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs and I can understand why, the ending (surprising though it may be) leaves me with an empty feeling, almost like I missed out on something potentially great.
What we have here is a movie that is not equal to the sum of its parts, filled with fantastic scenes and memorable characters and none of it ever quite manages to gel properly, I live in hope of a blu ray release with added scenes of scalping awesomeness.
“Arreavadeerchi”
- Jason Frost
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