Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds
A Review of the New Movie from the Writer/Director of Kill Bill
Sep 9, 2009
Those expecting something new from Tarantino, will have to wait for his next movie. This is Tarantino's standard fare, nothing exciting here that hasn't been seen in his other movies. He seems to have found a formula for reinventing 70s era schlock films into modern big-budget action features and is content to stick with it. Of all his movies though, Inglorious Basterds is probably the one with the most unfulfilled potential. An excellent cast and some great characters are held back by terrible story execution.
The Cast of Inglorious Basterds
The cast featured a number of well-known and little-known actors together in an excellent ensemble. By far the most noteworthy individual performance was that of Christoph Waltz who played the brilliant but sadistic villain Col. Hans Landa. Col. Landa is very good at his job as a detective for the Nazis, and his cold and methodical demeanor is an excellent foil to the gung-ho machismo of Brad Pitt's Aldo Raine, the leader of the Basterds. Pitt did a good job pulling off the swagger of Lt. Raine, despite drawling through the movie in the worst attempt at a faux Tennessee accent ever captured on screen. French actress Melanie Laurent also delivered a notable performance as a movie theater owner who crossed paths with Col. Landa and seeks revenge on Landa and the Nazis.
The Story Execution of Inglorious Basterds
The plot of the movie seems far fetched but plausible: A group of American commandos is deep behind enemy lines wreaking havoc on the Nazis. But in the opening scene of the movie, Tarantino makes use of a contrived plot device for the German Col. Landa and the French farmer he is interrogating to speak English, because supposedly it is the only language they are both equally competent in speaking. This silly excuse is nothing more than an attempt to cater to English speaking audiences, by having the intense dialogue of the scene rendered in English instead of in French or German with subtitles. This contrived plot device is again nothing new for Tarantino, having used it previously in the Kill Bill series, but it does not excuse for sloppy writing.
Authenticity Takes a Back Seat to the Action
Of course, when authenticity is not as much a concern as explosions and gratuitous gun battles, it is easy to not notice contrived devices like this. Inglorious Basterds may not win any awards for it's historical accuracy or authenticity, but the performance by Christoph Waltz was one of the finest portrayals of a dynamic villain seen in years, and deserves to be recognized by the academy when award season comes around.
Inglorious Basterds is a Universal Pictures release, starring Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, and Christoph Waltz, rated R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality.
