REVIEW: Inglourious Basterds

Quentin Tarantino is one of those directors who usually inspires a whole bunch of disproportionate criticism/praise. There's no middle ground with him; it's a love/hate type of thing. Unless you're me. Personally, I could lean either way. I've seen almost every film he's directed (the exception being Deathproof) and while I've enjoyed the majority of them, they're not knocking on the door of my favorite movies of all time. So while I was expecting a good film when I went to see Inglourious Basterds, I wasn't expecting anything amazing.

I was wrong. Inglourious Basterds is one of the best films I've seen this summer and one of Tarantino's best.

Inglourious Basterds definitely fits into the director's style. Instead of gangsters or assassins, this Tarantino film deals with characters in the realm of WWII. The film, broke into five chapters, has three major character groups that become more interwoven as the film progresses. There's the evil Nazi, the femme fatale Jewess, and the gung-ho American soldier.

Even though this film uses actual history as a starting point, that doesn't mean that Tarantino is going to take said history seriously. Has he ever taken anything seriously? The intentionally misspelled title should tip you off that this is going to be parodic in nature. And it is. Actual facts are thrown to the wayside as fictional characters mingle with real people and major aspects of WWII are changed drastically. How to explain the over-the-top accents of Brad Pitt (his character, Aldo Raine, pronounces Nazi like Yahtzee with a N and a hard A), Michael Fassbender, and Mike Myers than to realize that the director/screenwriter is just having a good time? And, in that same thought, how to justify the inclusion of a comedic actor like Mike Myers?

But the parodic nature of the film doesn't mean that it lacks gravitas. Two scenes in particular, the opening scene on a dairy farm and the basement bar rendezvous, deliver tension and suspense in spades. Both feature inordinate amounts of talking capped by moments of extreme violence. That would be a good description for the entire film, lots of talking punctuated with violence. But that's not a bad thing. It's the great verbal banter that keeps this film moving through its 2 1/2 hour runtime.

The true surprise of this film is unknown (at least in this country) Austrian actor Christopher Waltz as Col. Hans Landa, the Jew Hunter. Waltz takes the character of Landa above and beyond typical villainy, creating a smooth-talking, smarmy, evil Nazi that you can't help but stay focused on. Rather than casting a "name" actor for his villain, Tarantino searched for someone who was right for the character, who could act in four languages, and Waltz is his perfect match. Great casting is another strong point of the film. Other than Brad Pitt (who is just a piece of the ensemble), there are no big names. Actors are cast for their similarities to the characters. Germans are cast as Germans, French as French. Its another quality aspect of the film that can be chalked up to Tarantino (I sure am giving him a lot of praise, but its really his movie, through and through).

So whether or not you enjoyed Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, or Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds is really something to behold.

Wade: 4.5/5 stars