It's good..with brilliant moments...but something's off

Rating: 7/10 (29 December 2009)

Been a fan of Tarantino for half of my life. Reservoir Dogs thrilled me, Pulp Fiction made my jaw drop, Jackie Brown was not as good but still amazing compare to other Hollywood 'movies'. Kill Bill 1/2..well..it may be self-indulgent but it was stylish and fun. So, what about Inglourious Basterds? Lets just say the first scene itself is worth the movie ticket or even the price of your Blu-ray CD. As I watch the whole film, which it claims to be 153 minutes, it feels as if the whole 153 minute flew by. Christoph Waltz was charismatic and unique in his evil way. Melanie Laurent definitely carry her character well(which has the most depth) and the supporting cast was great. The visual/cineto was filled with colours pleasing to the eye(even in the jungle scenes). The writing was unpredictable yet entertaining enough to add to Tarantino's filmography.
So why only 7? Is there lack of action/violence(Not that it's necessary)? No. Is there lack of the typical yet welcoming Tarantino-esquire dialogue? No. So, why 7? First of all are the characters. When the movie introduce to its characters, I began to fear that it's a flashback to Ocean's Twelve/Spiderman 3. But the characters are interesting and well developed throughout the movie. Not all. I had a problem with most of the characters - The Basterds - Brad Pitt(Aldo Raine) and Co. While they are supposed to be the good guys/heroes in this movie where we root for them, they don't seem to be human. Okay let's compare, Reservoir Dog's most evil character Mr Blonde(Michael Madsen) is portrayed as a psychopath throughout the movie. Yet, there are scenes where we see the 'human' sides of him. When he is jerking around with Nice Guy Eddie or when he tells us his opinion about the hostages not following instructions. Those scenes make Mr Blonde a more believable/true character.
Let's go to Pulp Fiction, Jules Winfield(Samuel L Jackson). He's a badass throughout the movie killing people but scenes such as 'divine intervention' and his respect to Winston Wolfe(Harvey Keitel) tells us he can be a hit-man and yet we can relate to him.
I won't go to Jackie Brown not because I can't but I'm reaching the maximum quota of 1000 words for a review.
In Inglourious Basterds, Brad Pitt and Co are given the most unique and entertaining characters only in terms of their personality. Scalping heads and devil may care ambush is fun for the audience. But we do not know what's inside the head of Aldo Raine(Brad Pitt) except for killing as many Nazis as possible and scalping their heads.Even his past, he is from Tennessee, a descendant of the native Americans, hence scalping,and when he talks, he looks like reminiscent of Marlon Brando. That pretty much it. And lets just say his recruits(Eli Roth and Co) has a more vague character than he is.
Let's just hope that Tarantino's next project will be a fun, exciting, thrilling, clever...oh...and filled with well defined characters.