The Ego Has Landed

Rating: 6/10 (30 December 2009)

Quentin Tarantino has been on a downward spiral recently and "Death Proof" seemed to signal that he had run out of ideas and was now imitating himself. "Inglorious Basterds" got generally good reviews from the critics, but I stayed away from the cinema release (that would have been unthinkable back in Tarantino's "Pulp Fiction" heyday, oh how the mighty have fallen!) The film is a Jewish World War II revenge fantasy about a team of Jewish G.I.s lead by Brad Pitt who launch an "Apache resistance" against the Nazis behind enemy lines, scalping their victims to spread terror in the German ranks.
The film seems to be a love letter to Tarantino's Jewish financier Harvey Weinstein who has bankrolled every one of his movies for the last 15 years. It's also a tip of the hat to the movie-obsessed French for honouring him with the Palme D'Or for "Pulp Fiction." As Tarantino knows more about movies than probably any human being alive, he makes "Inglorious Basterds" a movie about a Nazi movie premiere which gives him the opportunity to get his fan-boy rocks off as his characters discuss obscure European films and filmmakers.
Brad Pitt recently said that he's lost interest in acting and it shows as he way overdoes his performance here as Lieutenant Aldo Raine. He speaks in an overly-loud redneck accent and reduces his character to a walking comic book of tough-guy clichés. Tarantino, once the master of dialogue, doesn't help him much with the lines he gives him to speak (just look at the scene where Pitt complains over and over and about being in a basement. Okay, Quentin, we get it!).
Christoph Waltz received universal praise for his performance as SS Colonel Hans Landa and it is impressive to see him act in three different languages (English, French and German) and he is playing something different than the usual sadistic Nazi monster (e.g. Ralph Fiennes in "Schindler's List"). Waltz's Landa is quite a charming SS man and, at first, it did seem ridiculous that he would let Jewish girl Shoshanna escape the massacre of her family. However, the plot that Landa hatches to save his own neck and prosper in the United States makes his leniency seem believable later.
Diane Kruger plays the German actress Bridget von Hammersmark and it's interesting to see her acting in her native German language for once instead of the American-English she affects in the "National Treasure" movies.
Mike Myers has a pointless, one-scene cameo as a British officer. He's heavily-disguised with make-up and filmed in long-shot (was the make-up not good enough for close-ups, Quentin?).
Eli Roth, Tarantino acolyte and director of the "Hostel" movies, appears as "The Bear Jew" Donnie Donowitz and he's bulked up alarmingly for the part. Elliott Gould probably would have played this part if the movie had been made in the 70s.
There are nods to other movies. The deal Pitt strikes with Landa is reminiscent of the bargain Clint Eastwood struck with a German Panzer commander to share the gold in "Kelly's Heroes" (Tarantino even uses a piece of original music from that film in "Inglorious Basterds.") The fiery massacre of the Nazis in the locked cinema recalls the finale of "The Dirty Dozen" and the "all the rotten eggs in one basket" line is from "The Great Escape." Any historically-accurate movie about an assassination attempt on Hitler would end in failure. We know Hitler survived every attempt on his life and committed suicide in his bunker in May 1945. But this is Tarantinoland and thank God it is. Here we see the Fuhrer get his comeuppance from the machine-gun of a Jew (Eli Roth) and his body seems to get riddled with bullets for about three hours (who could accuse Quentin of overkill?!). It's followed by a suicide bombing of the whole place (nice topical touch, Quentin). It's an audacious move on Tarantino's part to rewrite history the way he saw fit and it's this mental ending that makes the film stand out from others of its kind.
I had to watch "Inglorious Basterds" in several sittings on DVD as I kept falling asleep during the first half (not a good sign). The early scenes are endlessly talky (an old Tarantino problem that he refuses to address) and could have been trimmed to get to the point a lot quicker.
"Pulp Fiction" is stuffed with classic moments from start to finish and there is nothing of that level in this movie. It has many typical Tarantino moments (a Mexican stand-off, close-ups of women's feet) but it takes a long, long, long time to get going. The ending is so out there and different that you just about forgive Tarantino for his extravagances. Just about.