Self indulgent and reliant on reputation

Rating: 1/10 (13 March 2010)

Reviews of this film are largely split into 2 camps; it's good because, or it's bad despite, it's direction by Tarantino.
The question I asked myself after this was would this have been made without the Pitt/ Tarantino stamp? The answer was no; and the result was a film that made me so irate that I was moved to post my first review on IMDb...
I found everything about this film treated the film goer with something approaching contempt. The script was thin with the exception of one well written character - Landa. Scripting for other characters was anodyne or non-existent, or, in the case of the "Jew-Bear", simply a bit weird. Same for the other aspects of characterisation, that was formulaic and thin in nearly every case, especially the made-for-Pitt Aldo Raine and the other Basterds. Style pastiching that normally works didn't; subject matter was treated with either insufficient levity or indifference; scenes were badly edited or irrelevant. The redeeming aspects were cinematography and production values - style over content.
So - am I taking it too seriously? No; this is not a funny film (though occasionally it seems to try) and the violence that is shown sits uneasily between cartoonish and unnecessary - a prime example is that of the surrendered German who was beaten to death; added nothing, in any way. In fact the tone of the film was so inconsistent in the way it considered the material that it made me very uneasy.
For me - Tarantino needs to start making films to impress others, not just himself. Obviously (most of) the rest of the world disagrees, but that's something either Mr T or I will have to learn to live with...
One of the most disappointing films I've seen.