Not his best but still a Tarantino twist on the world war genre

Rating: 8/10 (8 October 2009)

There are a few genres that are very hard to create anything new from and I think the war genre is definitely one of them and yet if anybody could conquer a new spin it would Quentin Tarantino. Inglourious Basterds is not what I thought it was. That's not a bad thing, or a good thing really just an observation. I took the film at face value which appeared to be about a group of misfits put together by a rough talking military man who goes about torturing and putting vengeance on Nazis. Some of that does happen but as it turns out the film is more about the final battle of this group of misfits after they have already made a name for themselves. It also follows another storyline extensively as much as the Inglourious Basterds if not more so. One of the more impressive features of this film is that the Nazi's are consistently on the run in this film. This is like the Return of The Jedi for Jews in World War 2 which I can't say I have ever seen. With the help of the brutal basterds as well as some smart and savvy war victims the Nazi's get a Taratino dose of vengeance, something he does with bloody, gore soaked style.
I wasn't sure about Brad Pitt and his performance. In trailers it almost looked cheesy the way that he tried to pull off the roll but once you see the film in context his role is actually very well done. You know there is so much more to his character although you don't get much of a history making him more mysterious. He is a strong leader and fulfilled the big name quota for the film. He isn't the star of the film but rather one piece in a large cast. French actress Mélanie Laurent is terrific as strong willed, tough female Shosanna Dreyfus. Her character is more the lead in this film than anyone else and she is terrific. Tarantino seems to have a way with strong females and Shosanna is no exception and Laurent is great in the role! The complete and utter showstopper is the award worthy performance of Christoph Waltz as the brutal Col. Hans Landa, a true wolf in sheep's clothing. Waltz gives a breath taking performance sometimes funny in a dark and disturbing manner and always brutal. He should not go unnoticed in any way because he steals the scenes. The supporting cast are all great in their smaller roles especially the cast of the Basterds but they don't get a lot of character development and are simply there to further the story and the lead characters.
So how does Basterds fall short from Tarantino's other films? I usually find with Tarantino that his films jump around like a blood soaked bunny and keep you constantly on your toes and I found the story dragged perhaps more than it needed to in certain areas. The opening scene in the french countryside is the perfect example because the tension and nail biting action is brilliant. When Tarantino turns up the gore it is shocking and bloody as ever but the action scenes are rather few and far between. Still this takes a world war two film to new heights and would love to see Tarantino tackle this again in a sequel or something different altogether. The gritty setting and the fascinating characters right up to Hitler himself (or the double of Hitler.) While many reviewers say that Basterds takes place in an "alternate universe" where Hitler is killed, it makes far more sense to look at history and realize Hitler had many, many 'look alikes' to prevent assassination attempts like this one. Regardless this is absolutely worth seeing for Tarantino fans or war genre fans because it is unique and well done. 8/10