Fun but flawed

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2010)

Inglorious Basterds is a flawed but fun film. Christopher Waltz was an absolute blast! What an exceptional performance! Every time he spoke, it just felt harrowing, even his obnoxious laugh just made you feel so uncomfortable. This was more his show that any of the other casts for sure.
Overall, IB was very much Kill Bill-esquire, playing on the spaghetti western and used chapters to go through each proportion of the movie. The opening sequence was strong on dialogue but it was enough to keep me on the edge of my seat and that was down to Waltz, but also credit to the house owner, whose presence made the scene even more effective because of his size.
Whilst the film was entertaining, I felt there were some major flaws here. If this movie came out last year with Slumdog Millionaire, it wouldn't get a sniff at the Oscars, because these films usually don't.
One of the biggest flaws is Brad Pitt. He was atrocious. He tried way too hard with his fake accent and just made it feel like every word that came out of his mouth was forced. I'm not American let alone a redneck, but I know his accent didn't sound natural. His acting was like watching a shy school kid who was made to stand in the middle of a class to do a role play using a French accent. It just didn't work. Tom hanks would've done a better job looking back on his previous films Forest Gump and the Green Mile. But why didn't Tarantino think of Clint Eastwood and take him out of retirement? He may be 70+, but he would've been fantastic. I'm sure working for Eastwood would be Tarantino's ultimate dream! The Basterds in my view took a back seat, with the Jewish girl's revenge plot being of much greater significance. The Basterds seemed incompetent and their whole team besides Pitt and one of the others were destroyed. And if this was a major event just for the Nazi's and Germans, why were guests supposedly from Italy easily let in, especially with dynamites strapped around their legs? Wouldn't anyone have body checked them? And with the Basterds being so renowned, surely the Nazi's would have had intel on their looks. And are the Nazi's really stupid enough to not have guards around the auditorium? How easy was it for Marcel to lock up the doors and the Basterds kill those guarding the Fuhrer? Waltz character was so domineering throughout but his credibility was ruined by his stupidity of trusting the Basterds in giving him what he wanted, which was a war hero warrant and a life in paradise. It didn't make sense for someone who just went and mercilessly strangled Diane Kruger's character to become a guy who thought he could negotiate a deal for him to go scot-free.
The film itself doesn't really deserve an Oscar, but it hasn't been a very fruitful year for movies besides Avatar. Waltz however definitely deserves a best actor award and I sure hope we will see more of him in films to come. Overall, Inglorious Basterds was entertaining, but everything that happened seemed too convenient.