Two-thirds brilliant - one-third rubbish

Rating: 7/10 (9 April 2010)

While not a huge fan of Quentin Tarantino and his often ADHD film epics, I do have some appreciation of his talents. So despite the fact that the previews for this film literally made me cringe, I decided to give it a shot and was pleasantly surprised. The film opens in Nazi-occupied France in one of the most tense and perfectly acted openings I can remember set in a farm house harboring Jewish refugees beneath its floorboards and a rather intimidating interrogation between the farmer and charming/threatening SS officer Christoph Waltz. Unfortunately, the action then switches to the Inglorious Basterds of the title and the writing/directing suddenly seems to have been taken over by a rather immature and volatile 10-year-old. The action shifts yet again to a cinema in France operated by a young woman who escaped in the opening passage and who is now masquerading as a Gentile. The woman - played beautifully by Melanie Laurent - finds herself thrust into the spotlight as she has become the unwilling object of affection of good-natured young Nazi war hero Daniel Bruhl and the Nazi powers-that-be have decided that her theater should host the premiere of a new propaganda film based on Bruhl's exploits, which will attract the Nazi hierarchy, and brings her under the scrutiny of Waltz again. Thankfully, this plot thread becomes the main one with the "Inglorious Basterds" taking a back seat. I say thankfully because something becomes glaringly clear early on. Every time the film focuses on the German, French or British characters, everything seems to flow with intelligence and suspense. When the film shifts to the American characters it turns into amateur night in Dixie with the writing and acting. Something even more notable when Brad Pitt and company have to interact with the international cast. Never have I seen a more glaring discrepancy in acting prowess than watching the American actors flounder opposite the European cast. While I am not a WW2 scholar, I am familiar enough with it to note that I have never heard of any U.S. forces conducting themselves with the bloodthirsty savagery of the title team during that campaign. Their cause and patriotism seem oddly irrelevant to them so long as they can maim and murder with abandon - which makes them not so much better than the Nazis they abhor. Indeed Pitt seems more than willing to torture allies for his jollies. The overly bloody sequences of them scalping people and disfiguring them with near psychotic glee seem to belong in a completely different film and mar much of Tarantino's otherwise amazing accomplishments here. Tarantino provides some truly terrific passages - including a lengthy mid-film sequence where British officer Michael Fassbender and one of the Basterds try to pass themselves off as Nazi officers in order to meet at a bar with glamorous double-agent Diane Kruger and chance makes it spin completely out of control. Acting-wise the international cast belts it out of the park leaving the American actors looking like hacks. Waltz is nothing short of astounding as the brutal and competent Hans Landa and he easily steals every scene he is in truly earning his Oscar. The case can also be made for wondering why neither Laurent or Kruger were not seriously considered for a nomination. In a film with so few appealing characters, Laurent woos the audience over to her side and makes her ultimate attempt at revenge one to savor. For the majority of the film, Bruhl is appealing and sympathetic as the lovestruck Nazi war hero. So much so that Tarantino must suddenly make him behave completely out of character from anything witnessed previously in the conclusion to excuse executing him without compunction. August Diehl and Gedeon Burkhard make strong impressions as well during the extended sequence at the bar, as does British actor Fassbender. Of the Basterds, German Til Schweiger comes off the most convincing. Eli Roth and B.J. Novak are just plain embarrassing, while Brad Pitt swaggers through the film in a laughably caricaturish performance sporting a ludicrous corn-pone accent with a grimace tattooed on his face that makes him appear to be smelling something rotten (perhaps his performance?). And Tarantino should also note that having every other character die in a bloody hail of bullets can become old and disheartening after a while. Yet despite the lousy writing for the Basterds segments and the dreadful American performances, Inglorious Basterds is well worth watching and remembering for terrific plotting for the majority of the film and the high quality of acting from the European cast. Truth be told, even with its weaknesses this, Avatar, Up in the Air and Precious are all substantially better films than The Hurt Locker, which topped them all at the Oscars.