It has its moments, strong cinema feeling throughout, but the humorous tone and the "deja-vu" revenge story cause disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (9 May 2013)

Inglourious Basterds was a little bit, in fact quite different film than previous Tarantino films which disappointed me at theater personally as a fan of him. The movie has one of the greatest opening sequences ever filmed, it proves how genius Tarantino is, but unfortunately the rest of the film was a let down after this sequence. This sequence is an example of quintessential cinema, pure genius. The vision and the mastery of the director shine such as the timing of the camera down or the suspense, atmosphere or the acting, it is a perfect sequence, but as said the movie was lack of the magic that this part had. For example, the revenge story in this movie was a little bit bland or lack of spark, especially in comparison with Kill Bill. Also, the similarities between the two stories make it even worse! (blonde avenger, the same songs etc.) In addition, the heroine of this movie was not likable like The Bride, she was rather cold that's why I couldn't identify with her throughout the movie. Christopher Waltz's performance is jaw dropping, incredible, however Pitt is not "so so" as some people claim, he is great too! I have no idea why some people doesn't accept that he is a very talented actor. His performances in 12 Monkeys, Burn After Reading and Tree of Life were Oscar worthy for example. Diane Kruger is the third best of the cast, her subtle performance is outstanding. Returning to the film, the movie was somehow "cold" in comparison with other Tarantino movies and that annoyed me. I don't say soulless, but somehow lack of any real spark except for the famous opening sequence or let's say the movie was lack of emotional involvement. The violence in the movie was very brutal, so unbearable at times, but that's OK. Some action scenes are stylish, but some of those are not, too brutal and raw like the baseball bat scene. If the point of those kind of scenes is to disturb audiences, yes it delivers! Hitler was portrayed in a comical tone which harms the seriousness and realism of the movie (in contrast with the movie, Valkrie for example) He just shouts people around him. I hate Eli Roth because of his sick and sadistic director identity, but his persona and his role suits him very well in this movie and he works as a post-modernism tool of Tarantino. The camera usage in the translation scene was another example as Tarantino highlights "cinema" over everything else. The villain of the movie, Hans Landa was a great character study, however, until the end, somehow the character lost his mystery? impact? And one of the biggest disappointments for me was the theater sequence because of the over humor or the funny tone. I had expected a suspenseful, exciting or even interesting climax, but instead got a sequence that works more like a parody! May be Tarantino tried to make his own Stalag 17 or Dirty Dozen (both movies have funny moments which I don't like particularly either), but comedy just doesn't work in this movie. Another problem was the confusing and controversial aspect of the film. In a scene, "a good guy" of the film torments a woman to get some information, he is a hero, also an anti hero, may be both may be neither of them! In another scene, a German soldier who has a wife and a baby gets shot, in those scenes, I know, Tarantino tries to throw us a curve, but personally I wasn't amazed, instead frustrated. He did the same thing to the relationship between the heroine and another German soldier, I won't go further not to spoil anything, but many twists in the movie didn't amaze me as the director would expect or wish. However, the last twist at the theater shows that Tarantino doesn't take any side or has some ideological thoughts, instead his only purpose is to amaze or surprise audiences and gets applause! The bar sequence was great, it shows us again that Tarantino is a dialog expert for sure! The "deserve" scene was stylish and also powerful. The "hot" climax was unfortunately lack of suspense, excitement or real action. At the end, if he can rule his ego a little bit, if he can forget about the cheers that he would want to get, instead focusing on his art, sure he will make much better movies.