"Inglorious Basterds" Just Good Enough

 

    If you were like me, and you had to guess what a war movie about killing Nazi's starring Brad Pitt would be about, you would think that it's a long film character focused film about camaraderie, about a group of 10 men fighting for what's right, striking fear into the hearts of Nazi's across Europe. Except, you're entirely wrong. What you get is a film that is still bloody and violent, but not as action packed as you would think, hardly any character focus, and one that takes full advantage of it's length. It was a good film no doubt, but I'm just not sure what to make of this Tarantino film in the slightest. So let's talk about it.

    First of all, let's talk about what I think the film does right. There are regular scenes, and then there are the scenes in this movie. Whether it be the very first scene in the movie, or the scene where everyone is in the bar, these long, drawn out scenes just work. Tarantino does a great job of not only building up these characters in clever little ways, but also of towing the line of suspense. You never quite know what's going to happen, but you'll be waiting with bated breath for the 10 minutes the scene goes on, because that's just how good it really is.

    On the other hand though not all of these scenes always work, and thus what you're left with is a lot of jumbling parts all vying to shine, and just a lot of characters that ultimately as viewers you never really get to care about. I was honestly surprised with how little Brad Pitt, or Americans in general are shown in this film. You just don't really have time to become attached to any of the characters, and the plot just sort of moves forward with all of its twist and turns, which include character deaths. Leaving you with very little to root for by the end other than of course the death of as many Nazi's as possible. It certainly wasn't conventional, but it worked, for the most part.

    I say that because by the end it was becoming more and more difficult for me to suspend my disbelief. I'm not saying I needed to see Hitler kill himself, but the very obvious foot fetish Tarantino classic, combined with the almost cartoonish violence, and the very random switch up Hans Landa just left a lot to be desired. Like, it circled back to the whole carving swastika's on Nazi's bit, but you never really saw the whole group outside of like one scene. In fact, you don't really know what happens to any of them other than Brad Pitt and the the other dude who I can't even remember.

Final Score: 75/100

    But oddly enough, despite all of these misgivings I have about this film. It just all sort of works out in the end? Like it does just enough for me to still enjoy the film while still having these gripes. I still have no idea what I should have expected going into this film, and I just came out pleasantly surprised that it held my attention the entire time in spite of everything that happened. I cannot watch a Tarantino film without thinking about the foot fetish thing anymore it's kind of absurd, which makes me wonder where it was in both Kill Bill's, Pulp Fiction, and Reservoir Dogs since those are other works by him that I remember. Oh well.