Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Brad Pitt

***

I went to see Inglourious Basterds at 415 on Sunday. Afterwards, I went to drink at the bar while I watched the Sox lose to the Yankees. So now I'm over tired, kinda hungover and trying to write my review of a movie that's not as fresh in my mind as it should be. I don't really want to do this. Fortunately, Tarantino has still failed to make a movie that doesn't linger with you regardless of what you do to prevent that from happening.

Inglourious Basterds runs just over two and a half hours but never felt like too long a movie to me. However, it seemed to be made up of only something like 10 scenes which ran up to 20 minutes each. The individual scenes seemed long and occasionally drawn out. This usually works for Tarantino. He's been a master at creating those "uncomfortable silences" and filling scenes with tension even when very little is happening. Basterds was missing this, however I kind of blame myself because I know the scenes were designed to do that... I just didn't feel it.

Every Tarantino movie I've seen gets better over time regardless of whether or not I even see it again. Something about them resonates. I can only critique the movie now based on my first impression. I can't assume I'll like the movie more down the road and give this film a five-star rating. Right now, after seeing it once it only stands as a three star rating.

Why? Well, it is a bit too long even if it didn't feel that way. When Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) tells the Basterds that Hitler will be a the movie premiere they intend to "ambush", we don't need to then cut to Hitler telling us that he'l be going to the movie premiere that the basterds intend to "ambush". Its repetitive just mentioning it in a review. Despite what Tarantino will tell you... adding scenes probably didn't help his film run more smoothly. Had those scenes that were drawn out, supposedly tension filled and relevant to the story not been intercut with short little scenes like the one I just mentioned, I think they would have been more effective tension wise and rather than calling them drawn out, I might have refered to them as brilliant and perfectly crafted.

Tarantino films have a tendency to grow on me. I could say the same about the performances in the film. Brad Pitt, while absent from the screen for a lot of the film, annoyed me at the get go. But his funny accent and one-tracked objective turned humourous and effective as the film progressed. Several other characters grew on me including Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), and even Eli Roth, who can't act, but got by. Someone who required no getting used to was Christoph Waltz playing Col. Hans Landa ... aka ... The Jew Hunter. A Brilliant performance start to finish to say the least was the highlight of the film. He didn't however, steal the film. In other words, he made every scene he was in work as it was supposed to work. His motives created the tension, and his timing created the humor. A perfect blend.

I recently posted a lost review for Jackie Brown. I pointed out prior to it that when I wrote that review I gave it three stars and that I now consider it to be my favorite Tarantino film. After seeing both Kill Bill films, I wasn't in love with them. Neither cracked my top ten of their respective years, yet now I consider them masterpieces. Can the same be said for my future opinion of Inglorious Basterds... time with tell but history has a tendency to repeat itself.