Ok guys, i apologise for the length of this review, it's epically long, the reason being is because i love this films and when i started writing it I got in the zone and words just came flowing. Normally i do these on two pages, this one was double, so please check out the review and if you haven't seen it before there are spoilers in the review....
The Tarantino film, a saying that conjurers up sharply written dialogue, well balanced characters, pop culture references and bursts of strong violence, constantly copied but never bettered.
The Tarantino film in its self has become a strange offspring of the sub-genre, it's a sub-sub-genre. Since it's powerful, genre defying release in 1992, Reservoir dogs put the former video store clerk on the map with it's stylized characters, it's razor sharp whit and it's unconventional plotting. Quentin Tarantino struck gold over night.
Now i've made no secret here on this site and to my friends that it was QT that introduced me to Genre films, well I say genre films but what I meant was exploitation and horror films. I loved films way before him, but his enthusiasm just fuelled an already lit fire. Now like the giddy fan boy that I am, and im not afraid to call my self a fan boy, I, like a lot of other fan boys get really fucking excited when news of a new QT film breaks, fuck I was spinning in circles like an excited 5 year old at Christmas when Kill Bill got announced, and I fucking loved that shit, both parts, so after the slight disappointment of Death Proof, a film that lot of people based the rest of his career on, I was like a bloody excitable dog when hearing news of Inglourious Basterds, sure i'd seen Castellari's original war-sploitation classic before hand, and even though going back 3 years and the IMDB write up had a completely different story and cast, I was still kicking myself in amazement that a new film was coming, it was like Death Proof was like Kevin Smith's Cop Out, a film that really wasn't what was expected, and not even funny and had a lot of people saying Smith was done, I thought, even though I enjoyed Death Proof, that his grindhouse flick was the final nail in the coffin after the criticizing of Kill Bill Vol.2 and how it didn't work with the astonishingly violent and frenetic pacing of Vol.1 and how people were saying make another Jackie Brown or another Pulp Fiction, but I found the script for IB online and did what any self respecting QT fanboy would do, I read it.
The first 20 pages were like QT had injected by Herbert West's Re-animation serum and it had worked and QT was back to how we want QT. 167 pages of Tarantino penned goodness. So I sat for 3 hours reading this thing and it blew my mind, it was absolutely nothing like the original Italian flick, it was almost plotted like pulp fiction, with it's different character arcs and it all coming to an end and being nicely wrapped up. And like I said, it blew my mind, not because of the length or the subject matter (I really dig WW2 films) but by how it was written and how well he did it. Like I said I sat for three fucking hours reading this thing and I was able to visualise everyt bit of writing. It was like as I was reading it I was watching it in my head, that's how I write, I visualize the scene when im writing it and I hope people who read it also visualize it too. But this aint about my failed attempts at writing a movie but about the successful attempt by QT.
Back on track, Inglourious Basterds is like no other WW2 film you will be likely to see. For one Tarantino has written one of the best screen villains since Henry Fonda played against type in Leone's Once Upon A Time In The West, and he comes in the form of Col. Hans Landa of the S.S, a man personally chosen by Hitler to seek out the Jews left in occupied france, and he's so good at his job he's earned the nick name the 'Jew Hunter', Anyways here's bit of the plot.
The film opens is France, 1941 Col. Hans Landa arrives at the farm of Perrier LaPedite. Landa knows that Lapedite is hiding Jews but carries and insist on switching from French to English in which they speak about the former Jewish families that lived in and around the same area. After a tense 20 minutes of mind tricks, Lapedite caves and points out where the Jews are. In a hail of Gun fire, Landa's men lay waste to floor boards destroying any remnants of the hiding Jews, Except one, a young 19 year old girl named Shoshanna who manages to escape. Cut to 1944 and Lt. Aldo Raine has assembled a group of Jewish Americans for a mission behind enemy lines. Their mission? To kill as many Nazi’s as they can and to spread fear through the Third Reich. Meanwhile in Paris, a young German private named Fredrik Zoller approaches a young French woman by the name of Emmanuele Mimmaux who, shock horror, is actually our girl from the beginning, Shoshanna. Anyways, Zoller reveals that a film made about his exploits in a clock tower in Italy has been made into a movie called Nation's Pride, a Nazi propagandist piece. Cut to England, and Lt. Archie Hickcox is called to meet with Gen. Ed Fenech and is given a mission to join the Basterds in France and to hook up with an undercover S.O.E agent, (for anyone who doesn't know S.O.E stands for Special Operations Executive, which is pretty much the precursor to MI5 much the same as the O.S.S was the precursor to the C.I.A, there we go a little history lesson with your daily dose of movie rants) to finalise the plan to take out as many Nazi leaders as possible, much like Lee Marvin and his Dirty Dozen did. Cut To tavern, Hickcox has met with the basterds and is now about to enter the tavern to rendezvoux with the agent. It turns out the spy is actually a famous German film star named Bridgette Von Hammersmark. Unfortunately, and this was not supposed to happen, The tavern is full of Nazi's, celebrating the birth of the son of one of they're fellow soldiers, oops, this wasn't supposed to happen, but they go with it when one of the soldiers comments on Hickcox' German accent, he retaliates by calling rank on the private, an S.S officer over hears and buts in, after a bit of hostile banter between them, The S.S officer sits down to join them, now, much like the first scene, there is an air of unease, The officer knows that they aren't actually German soldiers, and they know he knows this but they carry on the façade until the SS officer folds and exposes them and the tavern explodes into a hail of gunfire. I timed this scene and the scene is 20 minutes long and the gun battle lasts 15 seconds, but it's very brutal and very well staged. Cut to the aftermath of the tavern shoot out and Aldo calls down to find out what has happened, everyone is dead except one german private and Bridgitte Von Hammersmark. She shoots the private and we cut to a veterinary clinic where Von Hammersmark tells the remaining bastardo's of two developments that could hinder or help the mission and that could possibly change history for the better.
Right I’ve had to stop there because it was only supposed to be a bit about the plot, then I realised that the film is so simple to follow while watching it but so complex while trying to describe it that I may find my self just waffling. So That is why I have cut short my explanation of the plot so we can move on to the more technical and Performance sections of the film.
One thing Tarantino always gets right is his casting, from revitalizing John Travolta's almost non existent career with Pulp Fiction, Giving former B movie actor Robert Forster an Oscar Nom for best supporting actor in Jackie Brown, which also gave the world back Pam fucking Grier to making former indie princess Uma Thurman a female action Icon and giving the late David Carradine the perfect role as Bill, Tarantino has always made the right choices. But when casting for this came along, and if you recall I previously said IB had a different cast 3 years ago that had the likes of Michael Madsen, Adam Sandler and Eddie Murphy supposedly attached, a lot of people were hesitant when Brad Pitt's name was bandied about, the internet was awash with 'fuck you Tarantino, you sold out by getting an a-lister, you fucking hack ass hole' and while I still supported the film, I too was sceptical of Brad Pitt, then came the Teaser and again everyone said, ' we were right, you fucked up QT, Pitt's gonna Ruin this film', someone even went as far as to say, before they'd even seen the finished film, ' Worst Movie Ever!!!', all from just a teaser. But like I said, I too was sceptical, but unlike those message board trolls, I like to see the finished product before I piss on someone's work. I kid you not, if you haven't seen IB yet, Brad Pitt is fucking A.W.E.S.O.M.E!, He may not steal the film, but he has some of the best lines and his character is very funny, at times it seems as though QT wrote Raine as a complete doofus, and in some scenes he does come across like that, but you wouldn't get put in charge of what is essentially a black ops mission if you can only wear Velcro shoes. It's just different cultures I guess, what we perceive as normal, more intelligent and diverse people may seem as dumb, but fuck it Pitt is the shit in this. He's also, while not being shown, pretty fucking hardcore. He has a burn mark around his neck which kind of gives the impression that he managed to survive a hanging. He really is very good.
Ok people, I know a lot of readers of reviews kind of dislike, scratch that, fucking despise Eli Roth, Yeah he's a wannabe Tarantino, but Cabin Fever was great and even Hostal 1 was a good gory watch, Hostel 2 not so much, there's something about horrific violence on women that turns me off. But here he gets to act, not like he did in Death Proof or Cabin Fever but here he has a proper role, that of Sgt. Donny Donowitz, aka 'The Bear Jew' one of the most feared of the basterds due to his penchant for bashing the brains of Nazi's in with a baseball bat. In the original script, and I also believe this scene was actually shot, is the origin of how he got his baseball bat, which was for me one of the most memorable parts of the script and would have given him more screen time, but he's still good as Donowitz, im not gonna say I don't like the guy, because I actually kind of do. I just think he needs to stop following QT everywhere he goes and that QT needs to let him run free and do his thing. His fake Grindhouse trailer, ThanksGiving was one of the best and he directed the film within a film here. Nation's Pride, which he actually did a good job on.
Next up is French actress Melanie Laurente, now i'd never heard of her and I still haven't seen anything else she's made, that's not from lack of trying but to be honest I haven't actually tried, maybe because im lazy, I don't know, but she is very very good here. Shoshanna hates the Germans for what they did to her race and her family and is hesitant to converse with Zoller, knowing what he stands for. From the get go you know that this girl wants to open the biggest can of Nazi revenge Whoop-ass the world has ever seen. There's one scene in particular which is hard to watch, She's just been taken by the S.S to a restaurant where she meets Zoller who wants to change the venue of his film premier to her cinema, and while at the table with Zoller and Goebbles, Landa arrives and she recognises him. She is left alone with him and when he leaves all the emotion she has kept in just comes out at the table. It's a brilliant tense scene.
Daniel Bruhl plays Private Zoller, he's a young German soldier and has become the poster child for the Third Reich. Bruhl is at first a cheeky chappy with his little smile and his sweet persona until you find out why he's the nation's pride, the mass slaughter of 200-something U.S soldiers from up in a bell tower, and then how he changes from this sweet cheeky chappy into this monster that won't take no for an answer. If anyone has seen the film The Edukators, you'll know how great an actor Bruhl is and he's equally as good here.
Next on the List of Stars in the film, and there seems to be a lot of 'em, is the gorgeous Diane Kruger, here playing the S.O.E spy Bridgitte Von Hammersmark. Now I have to say I have a major fan boy crush on Kruger and it upsets me that she's with that kid off of Mighty Ducks and Dawson's Fucking Creek, but jealousy aside, She is really very good, Her delivery of QT's words are spot on, and she really does inhabit the role of the mega movie star, especially when attending the premier. Ever since I first saw her in National Treasure I've been in love with this woman and this film just enhances my geek crush on her....fuck you Pacey you hockey stick wielding twat.
Then you have one of the best up and coming actors of my generation, Michael Fassbender is proving to be a brilliant actor, from his astonishing transformation as the instigator of a hunger strike in the powerful Hunger, the victim of violent youths in the gory but powerful Eden Lake and to his current film, X-men: First Class, in which he plays the younger version of Ian McKellen to which he is receiving rave reviews, Fassbender is one to watch. As Hickcox, a role originally supposed to be played by Simon Pegg (?), He exudes charm at first, then becomes more of an intense character during the Tavern scene. He says QT lines with effortless ease and really adds something to the film. In all honesty I really can't see the role ever being successfully played by Simon Pegg as, no offence Simon, but you have a funny face, and it makes me laugh when I see it. Fassbender is a great actor and definitely one to watch. Incidentally he'll be seen in David Cronenberg's next film called A Dangerous Method.
Finally we have the man who steals the entire film and has, due to this film become a house hold name. The man in question is German T.V actor Christoph Waltz. Waltz plays the villain of the film, the evil Col. Hans Landa of the S.S aka 'The Jew Hunter' and my god does this guy command the screen. From the opening 20 minutes to the final confrontation between Aldo and Landa, Waltz is menacing, Funny, Creepy and literally steals every single scene he's in. The way he delivers the dialogue and his little mannerisms are all spot on. It seems that he always has to be the better man, case in point is the opening, Perrier Lapedite asks if he can smoke his pipe, he takes out a box and unwraps a small pathetic looking wooden pipe. Landa asks his permission to also smoke his pipe, Landa takes out this huge almost ivory looking horn pipe and starts smoking, The scene is really a sort of penis measuring contest. It's these subtle things that makes the film even more brilliant. Waltz has luckily managed to score a pretty decent career in Hollywood with the big screen versions of The Green Hornet with Seth Rogan and Water For Elephants with Sparkly Vampire Douche Robert 'looks like a caveman' Pattinson and fingers crossed, will hopefully star in QT's next flick, Django Unchained.
The rest of the cast are made up of familiar faces Such as a randomly cast Mike Myers, the legend that is Rod Taylor (The Birds, Time Machine), Sam Levine, BJ Novak (The U.S Office), Til Schweiger (Uwe Boll's Far Cry) and Julie Dreyfuss (Kill Bill), plus you have voice cameos from Tarantino Alum's Harvey Keitel and Samuel L. Jackson.
Tarantino's direction is great, his handling of the extended dialogue scenes that end with abrupt horrific violence is more realistic than the work he did on Kill Bill, The Production Design looks fantastic with the design of the cinema and it's Nazi flags hanging down and the poster work done for the films that are referenced with in the film. The Costumes, weapons and as usual the music are all spot on. There's really not much more I can say about Tarantino's direction other than that he's getting better and better with each film.
So we've come to the end of this review and this is probably the longest review I have written, for that I apologise for taking up so much of your time. The whole reason for me originally setting the website up was to let people know how much I like or dislike a film and unlike most reviews I give a little background on why I like the film or what led me to see the film in the first place, Sure not everyone wants to read some random dude's fucking life story but you gotta remember Im a film geek and this is the shit that I live for, if we met and started talking, I can guarantee that we would talk for hours, because hopefully my readers are like me, live, breath and get high as shit off of movies. Unlike mainstream reviews, I swear, I reference random shit, and I like to inject a bit of humour into the reviews just to make the reading a little more entertaining so you can say you know what, that dude writes like we speak, I don't make a fucking penny off these and that's how I want to keep the site, free and easy. But I do have to give my final verdict on Inglourious Basterds.
This is, IMO, QT's best film since Jackie Brown, a lot of people slag the shit out of that film, but it's seriously a damn fine movie, IB is his most professional film, not his most mature film, but direction wise it's his best, plot wise it's on par with Pulp Fiction with it's multi Character plots, The Soundtrack is fantastic as it uses well known music from well known films.
I love the fucking shit out of this film, this is pure Tarantino, i've seen it six times, it's really that bad ass, so check this film out, don't bother watching the original because they aint got any similarities. This is my fave QT film and after reading the script for Django Unchained I have high hopes for it to be the western alternative to this...
If I could give the film 10 stars I would but we only rate up to 5 so it's getting the full 5 star treatment from me....
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