Not Tarantino's best, but I'll take it

Rating: 9/10 (13 January 2010)

Quentin Tarantino took the early 90's by storm with two unforgettable masterpieces of cinema: "Resevoir Dogs" and "Pulp Fiction." I haven't seen "Jackie Brown" or "Grindhouse" but the "Kill Bill" movies were far below his pedestal. With "Inglorious Basterds," QT is back, although it's still a shade below his best.
Like his other features, "Inglorious Basterds tells many stories at once. First is that of the film's namesake, a group of American soldiers told to hunt and kill Nazi soldiers and take their scalps. The point of this is to just raise hell and spread terror throughout the Third Reich. The second story is that of Shosanna (Melanie Laurent), who escapes slaughter at the hands of Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). Once in Paris, she runs a movie theater, and fate has it that she will get a chance for revenge.
People have been saying that this is QT's most cinematic film, and that's true. "Inglorious Basterds" is probably QT's most accessible movie, but it's still QT. Of his films, this is probably the most straightforward, and the most "normal" (if it were possible to call anything by QT normal). It's still got the same flavor of his earlier films, but it's easier to digest.
Like in his previous films, QT lets his actors stretch their range considerably and he allows them to play parts that they are not known for. Brad Pitt may be the tabloid king, but he's a good actor. He let everyone know that he's still got talent with his Oscar-nominated performance in "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," and Pitt continues the trend. Aldo Raine is probably the most demented character QT has ever come up with, and Pitt relishes it. He's obviously having a grand time playing the scenery chewing (or is that scalping?) lieutenant, and he's a joy to watch. As good (and famous) as Pitt is, he's not the one getting all the attention. The one everyone is talking about is Christoph Waltz, and there's a reason for it: he's awesome. Waltz is positively delicious as the sadistically gleeful Landa. He may a kidder, but he's smart, and sly as a fox. Nothing gets past him, and this leads to some tense moments. It's hard to say who's more fun to watch, Pitt or Waltz, but the multi-lingual Landa is a more developed character. Waltz deserves all the accolades that he's getting, and a shoo-in for a Best Supporting Actor nod. However, the two women of the film, Melanie Laurent and Diane Kruger, are largely ignored. Both give terrific performances. Laurent is great as the revenge-driven Shosanna. She's intense, but able to keep composure. She's also able to fend off the advances of the Nazi war hero, Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl) with wit and bite. Diane Kruger has been labeled a foreign sexpot, which I find unfair. Hopefully people will recognize her talent as the German actress-turned-spy. Also starring is Eli Roth, who, at least in this case, is proving to be a better actor than director.
With a story like this, QT ran the risk of not doing justice to, or worse, exploiting, the Nazi persecution of the Jews. But QT treats the material with enough sensitivity that he avoids this problem. There is no shame in enjoying this film for what it is: a bizarrely twisted and funny WWII movie.
The only thing that holds this film back is the script. It's not that it's bad, but QT's first two films had brilliant dialogue, and that's missing here. QT spent years developing this film, but unfortunately, the script doesn't show it.
Nevertheless, this is a wildly entertaining ride. Welcome back, QT.