A Brilliant Filmmaker With Very Little To Say

Rating: 6/10 (3 October 2009)

Very entertaining, that's for sure. Great little moments "inspired" by other movies. "The Guns Of Navarone", "Operation Crossbow" and a myriad of 70's B exploitation Italian movies. Tarantino is certainly clever and knows how to use the camera but then, I have to say it, nothing. The childish "divertimento" dressed in smart ass dialog remains there. The entertainment value is, perhaps, the most one should expect from a movie but it seems a damn shame that such a talent should be put at the service of something so one dimensional. I can't help but remember Ernst Lubitch's "To Be Or Not To Be" that was also a comedy with remarkable, inventive dialog but it also had so many other layers that "To Be Or Not To Be" after 70 years still resonates with whoever has seen it. Christoph Waltz is terrific and Brad Pitt is always great fun to watch but the experience is purely epidermic in spite of some truly gruesome moments. Am I expecting oranges from an apple tree? If that's so forget what I've just said and run to meet Tarantino's basterds.