Tarantino's recycling his schtick, and it doesn't work.

Rating: 5/10 (4 October 2009)

I haven't enjoyed a Tarantino flick since Kill Bill, and IB does nothing to make me change my mind. I was mostly bored during the movie, because it seemed like Tarantino was doing nothing new here, merely recycling his older tricks. I think he ought to stop hyping himself so much, and maybe skip directing for a while, in favour or writing. That's his strength, really. As a director, he's lately been just too self-indulgent.
As for the movie, the title itself is misleading. The Basterds were hardly in the movie. But I'm not complaining, because they were more caricatures, than serious characters. If Tarantino had elected to completely edit away Aldo The Apache and The Bear Jew, and make the movie only about Shoshanna, I couldn't be happier. Her plot was the only part that actually seemed like a coherent story. In fact, if I will ever get 'round to watching this movie on TV, I'll skip through all the frivolousness and just watch her scenes.
Still, my favourite sequence in the movie also featured the only Basterd I liked, Til Schweiger's Sgt. Hugo Stiglitz (who ironically, isn't even an original American Basterd). This is the clandestine basement meet with Diane Kruger's Bridget von Hammersmark, where Murphy's Law is in full effect - basically everything that can go wrong, does - followed by the awesome shootout.
And how can I not talk about Hans Landa, the Jew Hunter! His performance towers above everyone elses, and he rightly deserves his Cannes best actor award. His ending however, was atrocious, and a major disservice to him. The whole idea that he would even consider surrendering to the Americans seemed kind of lame. He just didn't seem like the traitorous or turn-coat types to me. Basically Tarantino built up his character, and had no idea what to do with him, so he got one of the worst endings possible.
All in all, this is a juvenile escapist fantasy, and not a very interesting one at that. I am, of course, in the vast minority that didn't like it, as most of my other friends seem to act as if this movie is the cure for cancer. Cure for insomnia is more like it.