THERES A SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL FOR PEOPLE WHO WASTE GOOD SPOILER WARNINGS
Welcome back to the QTE folks. The experiment is taking longer than expected, but it is not yet complete.
After Death Proof, Tarantino really needed to show he still had it. I know some people would disagree and say "But Death Proof was supposed to be that way!" Maybe it was, but that doesn't mean it didn't suck. With his next installment, Quentin decided to take on a World War II story, with his usual excessive violence flair.
Let's look at the staples, make sure they're all here. Excessive violence? Check. Snappy, humorous Dialogue? Check. Some Bad mutherfuckas that are so charismatic, you like them, no matter how evil a dick they are? Check. Barefeet? Check. Corpse View? Check. Random Samuel L Jackson narration? Check. Yup this is a Tarantino movie for sure.
Do the Basterds make the cut?
We start the movie in France, where a local farmer is visited by "Jew Hunter" Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz). The interesting thing to me here is despite a large portion of this conversation being French, it has the distinct Tarantino flair. The dialogue pops and even though you see a Nazi sitting in front of you, you somehow find him inviting. Even after you realize he's a completely conniving evil demonspawn, there's just something charismatic about Hans. This is partly writing, and partly Christoph Waltz may be the best actor I've seen in a long long time.
But anyway, Hans finds the Frenchman is hiding Jews, and does that whole Third Reich-y thing, shooting them. A lone girl escapes and runs across the fields of France. We then get our first introduction to the Basterds. Lt Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt with a awful fake Southern accent) is informing his troops of their job: Kill Nazis. Brutally. As much as possible. Most of the Basterds are guys you've "seen" but may not know the names of including Ryan from The Office, Magneto, and
a kid from Freaks and Geeks.
These opening scenes tell you everything you need to know about this movie. If you're not interested you're not going to be. This review is going to be short because I think this one is worth not massively spoiling.
Inglorious Basterds takes you for a ride carried by sharp acting (even when Tarantino put his friend in it, he did a shockingly good job) and actual character development, and it actually lasts the entirety of the film. Even in German and French (most of the movies are subtitles), the dialogue has the Tarantino flair, without the stuff that usually takes you out of (random pop culture jabs and zingers) the film universe. While I didn't like having to read the whole movie, it actually didn't take me out of it and I was just as invested as I was in any of these movies I've watched for the QTE. The scenery can be pretty cool, and the stylized action makes you almost wish you could've been a Basterd giving the Nazis the old what-for. Sure, its over-the-top, like a sociopathic 12 year old pretended he was a soldier, but I really can't complain about this one. Hitler being massacred is always a good thing.
Also seriously..I cannot state enough how much sheer caliber of amazing Christoph Waltz is as Hans Landa. If you skip the movie, just watch every scene he's in. You won't be disappointed. If the Joker is ever done again in a Batman movie, it has to be played by this guy.
Did it top Reservoir Dogs for me? No. It probably didn't even crack my all-time top 20 list. But despite the long run time, subtitles, and hype (everyone I know loved it), this one didn't feel like it dragged, like you were reading a novel, and wasn't disappointing It's worth it.
Next time on the QTE: Django Unchained which will be watched on DVD since I've waited too long to see it in theatres.
Wants to be a Jew Bear
-Oz
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