Please allow me to save you 2 hrs 33 min

Rating: 1/10 (22 May 2016)

Let me start by saying I was a big fan of Tarantino's early work. I rate some scenes from True Romance, Reservoir Dogs, and Pulp Fiction as some of the most engaging I've ever seen...and own copies of all three, which I've watched numerous times each.
Sadly, for me, QT has completely lost whatever gift he gave that early work. His early films were so fresh...and constantly challenged ones expectations making their story-lines unpredictable and entertaining.
And his reputation for creating dialog and characters in those films was WELL deserved.
BUT...Inglourious Basterds contains only flickers of that earlier genius.
IF the dialog does share any of that former glory...it is COMPLETELY masked by being in foreign languages a LOT of the time (French, German and Italian)...and then the subtitles (which over-ride your disc's) are tiny and hard to read.
So you strain to understand a LOT of what is being said.
The story is historically inaccurate to say the least...which would be OK if it wasn't completely flat and unbelievable...and in addition you find yourself caring so little about most of the characters that when they are killed off you don't care.
Brad Pitt puts on a phony accent and smirks his way through another performance...and is paired with Christoph Waltz who is appropriately menacing at times...and completely over the top at others.
So the movie begins to take on a cartoony, farcical feel...complete with lame characterizations and ludicrously improbable situations.
I bought my copy at a LOW price from a sale bin at a store (no wonder there)...and will likely NEVER watch it again.
Hopefully I'll save some of you time you'd not get back otherwise...but if you read this and go on to see this film...you can't say I didn't warn you.