Disappointing and overly self-indulgent

Rating: Null/10 (4 February 2010)

As a fan of Tarantino's 90s gangster flicks, especially Pulp Fiction, I really wanted to like his latest offering. I wasn't all that impressed by Kill Bill, so was hoping this would be a return to form. Sadly, it didn't quite do it for me. The story is an interesting one: a team of Jewish American soldiers are sent to Vichy France to hunt down Nazis. There were a few entertaining set-piece action scenes and the odd bit of snappy dialogue. Overall, though, the film seemed to drag on at an achingly-slow pace. I could see that Tarantino was trying to build some tension etc, and the opening scene where a Nazi interrogator spends some time in inane banter with a man harbouring Jewish refugees was really well-played. The nerves increased as I wondered whether he would find the Jews hiding under the floorboards and there was some decent suspense. What undid the film, though, was that such scenes were more or less replayed several times over. I felt that Tarantino was too concerned with paying homage to various things/people/music, rather than directing a tightly-scripted film. This could have been really punchy at about 90 minutes, but it rambled on for over 2 and a half hours. The finale was pretty good and made up for that somewhat, but when it was over I just felt a bit empty: this could have been so much better. I don't think Tarantino will be able to match his earlier achievements and I probably shouldn't compare films which are admittedly different. Yet I couldn't help feeling disappointed that this latest Tarantino movie wasn't on the same level as Reservoir Dogs: we know he is capable of greatness, but maybe he's got nothing left in the tank...