Inglourious Basterds (Review Part 1 of 2)

Inglourious Basterds (Review Part 1 of 2)

Inglourious Basterds (IB) displays director Quentin Tarantino’s strengths and weaknesses. The positives certainly outweigh the negatives. Tarantino takes all the things he learned over the years from Kill Bill and Grindhouse and improves upon them in IB. Inglourious Basterds isn’t a perfect film, but it certainly is one of the best-crafted films you’ll see this summer.

And, it should be a given because the movie has been floating around in various stages of development for ten years. The movie is finely tuned to the point that it almost hurts it in certain scenes. There are a few scenes that truly harm the tension and storyline and bring the film to a grinding halt. I can tell Tarantino loves these scenes and won’t delete them.

It’s not out of arrogance that he doesn’t trim them. It is love for his own work that is part of his problem.

One scene that almost harms the movie is the damn Mike Myers scene. Myers plays a British General in an introduction scene for a new character that the movie adds to storyline. My problem is Myers is a bit distracting in the film, and the overall tone of the scene is rather boring. It conveys the information that is needed to know for the last haft of the film, but it just isn’t a compelling scene. There are a few scenes like that are rather boring.

Now, the two biggest draws in this film are Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz. Brad Pitt’s performance is so over the top that every scene he’s in is funny. He has this strange expression where it looks like he’s taking a dump. Pitt is in on the joke and you’ll like his performance.

Christoph Waltz plays German security officer Col. Hans Landa. Landa is a chilling as the main villain. He goes by the nickname the Jewish Hunter. Waltz is an evil version of Sherlock Holmes. I just love to hate this character. Waltz is awesome.

End of part 1