It is what it is...

Rating: 6/10 (12 April 2010)

When Inglorious Basterds came into theatres last summer, I studiously avoided it, like all other Tarantino films. But after some pestering, I finally sat down and watched it, and to my great surprise, made it through the entire movie with only a moderate amount of eye-rolling.
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that lead characters, aside from Pitt, were not American actors and Tarantino had done the one thing that Hollywood has been avoiding for, well ever; cast foreign stars where they were required, instead of having American stars butcher the foreign languages and the accents.
However I have to agree with the critics concerning the French dialogue, you can very, very clearly tell it was written by someone who does not speak French. As for the German dialogue, I'm not sure but I can only assume the same.
On the flip side, Christopher Waltz's performance made this film. If I had to recommend one reason for seeing Inglorious Basterds, it would be his performance. He is believing, moving and quite frightening.
But one of the things that irks me the most is the title. Even if Tarantino had a reason for spelling Basterds wrong, it's still annoying. The second being the bloodshed. Yes, it is a war film. Yes, that means there will be blood, somewhere. But in true Tarantino style, it's mostly needlessly shown beatings and blood. Although I was pleasantly surprised by some of his more artistic choices vis-a-vis the scenic shots.
Also irritating is the lack of back-story on the characters. Except for a look at Shoshanna's past and a few glimpse's of the others, we have nothing to go on about the characters, which makes for frustrating conclusions come the climax.
It is what it is... a Tarantino film. I don't put much stock in that, and I personally would not recommend this film for more than something to watch before a better movie comes on/out.
Oh, and finally, whoever did the music for this movie should be shot. It's that bad.