Laboured and massively disappointing

Rating: 5/10 (23 May 2012)

Having waited years for this release as Tarantino had spent 10 years writing the script I was moist with excitement over this movie. A big fan of all of his other films, with exception to the much maligned Four Doors, there is a massive gulf in the quality of the writing between Basterds and the great auteur's other pieces. Despite the breathtaking opening exchange between the dairy farmer and the multi-linguistic Waltz's terrific Hans Landa the rest is a jumbled, badly cast mess. The main object of my derision is Eli Roth's Bear Jew, played with all the subtlety of a steroid abusing frat boy, although Brad Pitt's lazy, hammy turn as Aldo Raine and the inexcusable Mike Myers can not go without remark. The violence also is over the top and hard to stomach, missing the timing and black humor that made Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bills so watchable. The plot is flimsy with the parallel story lines of the Basterds and Shosanna being crudely sewn together at the end rather than the seamless blend we expect. Having said that there is a lot to like about it. Michael Fassbender, Christophe Waltz and Melanie Laurent are great to watch and the whole thing is beautifully photographed and scored. At the end you just get the feeling that Tarantino should not have been given total reign over the film and that had it been stripped down and tightened we could have been looking at a masterpiece. Unfortunately, its B-movie material and watching it feels like taking a mental bowel movement.