What was Tarantino thinking?

Rating: 3/10 (2 October 2009)

I've always been a big fan of Tarantino, ever since of seeing Reservoir Dogs. Especially after seeing the Pulp Fiction masterpiece, every time a Tarantino movie comes out I turn into this little kid 'lemme see lemme see lemme seeeeeee!' So yesterday me and some friends saw the Basterds in the movie theater. At one point in the movie I was so annoyed and bored at the same time I've had to suppress the urge of getting up and walking away. What a crappy, crappy movie. My disappointment is almost indescribable. But let's get to the positive facts first; I've given this movie three stars out of ten, one star for the following actors who make this movie bearable to watch: Melanie Laurent, Diane Kruger and most of all Christoph Waltz. Both female leads in this film were excellent, especially Laurent, delivering a very emotional performance. Kruger was great as well, but I don't think anybody can deny Waltz really stole the show in this one. Hope this guy gets nominated for an Oscar because he sure does deserve one. So, why only three out of ten stars if the main performances were so great? Well first of, the lead actor, Brad Pitt, is simply horrible. The accent was incredibly fake and annoying and even though Pitt IS a capable actor, he really messed this one up. It's hard to describe what's so weird about Pitt's portrayal of Raine, but the ones who have seen this movie probably know what I mean. Secondly, the movie (more specifically, almost very single scene in the movie) is WAY to long/stretched out. The very first scene for example, as well as the scene in the pub when the three Basterds get into the gunfight with the Germans, are incredibly long and eventually boring. Sure, the acting in those scenes is generally superb, but the directing and the dialogs got on my nerves very quickly. What also really bothered me is that Tarantino took the time to introduce some of the characters, only to kill them off only a few minutes later. The British member of the Basterds is a good example of this, after watching that (too long, surprise surprise) scene with the British General, getting him killed in the bar gunfight. A lot of these 'random' things really bothered me about this movie. In the last part of the movie, B.J. Novak just stands next to Pitt as if he's mentally disabled, his eyes glazy and not saying anything. The whole conversation/interaction between Pitt and Waltz was so badly acted on Pitts part, it was simply hard to watch. The Germans letting Soshanna getting away in the first scene is, I think, very unrealistic. They even had motorcycles right there with them, why let the sole survivor escape? And that whole storyline about the German soldier who killed God how many U.S. soldiers is just (though very nicely acted by Bruhl) pathetic. And what the hell was up with that storyline about 'the Negro?' It made no sense at all. Well, I could go on, but like the movie, this text is becoming too long ;-) I do have to say two scenes were really awesome in this movie; the first scene would have been a classic if it weren't so long and stretched out. The two scenes that really make this movie are the ones that the Basterds interrogate and kill the Nazi in the ditch and the scene with the apfelstrudel. The interaction between Laurent and Waltz is simply amazing.
Two things left that bothered me greatly that deserve separate listings. First is that when you ask people what they thought of the movie, nine out of ten say 'it's a typical Tarantino movie.' No, it isn't. Nothing about this movie is Tarantino-like. There are no similarities between the Basterds and Reservoir Dogs/Jackie Brown/Pulp Fiction/etc at all. Some might say, what about the violence? Well, what about the violence? Sure, the scalping scene is very disturbing, but that's about it. This movie, besides that one scene, contains hardly any violence. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction had a lot more violence than this one, I think. The second thing that bothered me the most of all, is that this movie has no genre. It's not a war movie, it's not a drama, it's not a comedy, it's not a western, it's nothing. Tarantino should have picked one or two genres to stick to, but nothing suck so much as a movie that tries to be a dozen genres at the same time.
One can only hope this movie will be soon forgotten and that Tarantino, who I still deeply respect as a filmmaker, will get back to what he does best; make action-dramas with good camera-work, editing, acting and writing. He's lucky he got Waltz, Kruger and Laurent because they, in combination with the ditch and apfelstrudel scenes, saved this movie from going down the drain.
(oh and PS..Mike Myers? Quentin Quentin..what were you thinking?)