Inglorious Basterds
All I knew coming into this film was what I had seen from the previews, which weren’t very good. It looked like it would probably be some sort of super cheesy action/comedy that some would love and others would loathe as with most Tarantino films.
I have loved many of his films and therefore, even though the previews were not thrilling me, I decided to give him the benefit of the doubt and check out Inglourious Basterds.
Many of the movies charms as well as its faults could be found in the opening chapter where a Frenchman is questioned by an SS officer dubbed “The Jew Hunter” about some of his Jewish neighbors who had gone missing during the German occupation of the country. Here we see some great cinematography, shot setups, and interesting music. However, the very much real feeling story that is unfolding is occasionally hijacked by an odd addition such as the officer’s abnormally large pipe.
The other big thing that stuck out here was that I felt myself waiting for all hell to break loose at any moment. Would it be the father snapping and taking out the officer? Would he then open the door to show the carnage done by his daughters on the other soldiers? Would his eldest daughter, who seemed ready to make her move at any moment go crazy on the German’s Rambo style?
No to all of these.
We are then introduced to the Inglorious Basterds or just Basterds as they are referred to for most of the film. The Basterds are a group of American Jews along with a couple Germans who have flipped sides.
They are led by Lt. Aldo Raines (Brad Pitt) who plays a southern officer who wants just wants to kill “Nat-zis”. He explains to the group that they will be unorthodox and will use Apache style hit and run tactics along with a healthy mix of brutality and mutilation to both cow and enrage the Germans.
He tells his men that they all owe him a ‘’debit” of 100 “Nat-zi “ scalps to pay off the position that he has given them. They are immediately sent to France where they quickly make a name for themselves as they successfully kill and mutilate many Germans.
During one such attack, they end with three captives. Aldo explains to the officer that he has two choices: die, or live and tell them of the other “Nat-zi” soldiers in the area. He refuses to give up their locations and therefore, “The Bear Jew” (Eli Roth) is called in to loosen his tongue.
This is one of their group that is feared throughout the Nazi ranks for his extreme brutality. Even Hitler is aware of his reputation and tries to keep it from spreading. He gives the officer one last chance to talk. When he refuses, The Bear Jew beats him to death with a baseball bat.
We are then introduced to a British soldier with knowledge of the German film industry who is being used in a mission involving a German starlet Bridget von Hammersmark to take out some of the top brass of the Nazi party.
They join up with The Basterds in a bar where they will find out about von Hammersmark’s plan. However, things don’t go as planned and a few of the group are killed. This leaves Aldo with a couple of his men filing in to attend the premiere of a movie claimed to be the best of the Nazi propaganda films at a French cinema.
This cinema is owned by a young woman that we had seen earlier in the film and who has reason to truly hate the Nazi’s. She has a young Nazi man take a liking to her, who later turns out to be the star of the new film. She is forced into a lunch with him and head of propaganda Joseph Goebbels.
She quickly decides that if the brass will be using her theater that she and her husband must do something about it. They hatch a plan to take care of the Nazi command once and for all not realizing that The Basterds are doing the same.
This was a difficult movie to rate upon its completion. I knew that it wasn’t a great film in any way, but it wasn’t a terrible one either. I had a positive feeling about it due to great pacing and a fun script, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized how many flaws it had.
One of the things that stood out to me the most was the fact that the film was really not that over the top. Take out a couple of scenes and a couple of little moments and you would not have been able to convince me that it was in fact a Tarantino film.
This was disappointing as you expect certain things from directors such as Tarantino and when you don’t get them it is always a bit of a letdown. To a greater extent, though, the problem was that there were so few of these scenes that when they did happen, they seemed out of place.
Some of these were The Jew Hunter pulling out an abnormally large pipe in the first chapter. Another was having Mike Myers as a British officer that briefs the agent going undercover. He seems to want to so badly slip into an Austin Power’s movie like character that he barely keeps in check. He is only on screen for about five minutes, but he pulls you right out of the film in this time.
As I mentioned earlier, one of its strengths were its pacing, making it seem more like an hour and a half film than and two and a half hour film. However, these moments would bring you out of that groove and deflate the buildup.
Other than Myers, though, most of the actors did really well in their roles. Diane Kruger melded into her role as German starlet turned Allies spy Bridget von Hammersmark. Eli Roth was great as The Bear Jew. Melanie Laurent was captivating as theater owner Shosanna Dreyfus. Even the overplayed Brad Pitt as Aldo Raines and Christoph Waltz as The Jew Hunter worked for the film and worked well as counterparts.
Overall the acting was very good, the eclectic music was good, and the cinematography was good (especially in the first chapter). However, the story wasn’t very good and the dialog was not nearly up to the normal Tarantino standard.
I found myself really wanting to love this film as the First Chapter played out, but with so many opportunities for Tarantino to do what he does best, it seemed to just keep going and going as you anticipated it. It wasn’t a bad journey along the way, but in the end, it really needed some of his magic to make it memorable.
There will be a few scenes that will be remembered from this film, but overall the film will quickly leave the public eye.
I still enjoyed the film, but do not seem myself ever seeing it again, which I don’t think I can say of any of his other films, which is a shame. There were plenty of positives and negatives, and in the end, I give Inglourious Bastards a 6.
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