Inglorious Basterds is an enjoyable if inconsistent ride

Rating: 7/10 (8 April 2010)

Inglorious Basterds is a tough film for me to review. Tarantino's latest certainly has moments of greatness. There are many scenes that were expertly done, the overall story of the movie is great and as you'd expect the look of the film is fantastic. That being said, there are many flaws that hampered my enjoyment. There are definitely points in the movie where the signature never ending scenes of dialog dragged, and I'm still not convinced this needed to be almost three hours in length to get its message across.
The actual ending was downright nonsensical in my opinion, and without going into spoilers, I cannot fathom what one of the characters was thinking. It somewhat ruined the well done climax of the film for me, as the main story lines had converged into a splendid resolution only moments before.
Another serious problem I had with the film is the fact that so many scenes and bits were completely similar to things I had seen in Tarantino's other films. How many movies of his am I destined to sit through that feature 10 minutes of tension building dialog just to have every person in the room kill each other in a glorious bloodbath (Reservoir Dogs, anyone)? This would have worked fine if I wasn't feeling so much deja vu. Even the speech that ends the movie was pretty much just this film's version of Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction.
I did enjoy Jackson's narration in this film, and the supporting cast was mostly phenomenal. The multiple languages didn't detract from my enjoyment and I enjoyed a lot of the trademark witty banter. In the end though, as good as the movie was in spots, it left a sour taste in my mouth. The more creative portions only served to highlight that too often I was watching Tarantino do the same things he's been doing in all of his films.
Maybe I'm in the minority here, but the music and scoring was surprisingly very hit or miss. Sometimes effective and appropriate, sometimes dreadfully distracting. There were a fair share of moments where I was very bothered by how out of place the soundtrack felt.
Speaking of hit or miss, I still haven't made up my mind about Brad Pitt's performance. As mentioned, all the other actors did a fantastic job, but as much as I enjoy Pitt, his accent and mannerisms were great at times and obnoxious at others. I never really fully bought into his character without seeing it as Pitt playing him, and that's not the sign of a truly great performance.
With the exception of the overall effectively complex story, Inglorious Basterds is a sometimes uneven effort in a lot of ways. I love the attitude Tarantino brings to his films, as he is obviously passionate about his work and I have to respect what he does. That being said, sometimes he can get a bit self-indulgent, and that becomes clear during sequences of this film. While there's no question its worth a viewing, it's not up the same level as Tarantino's best work.