After the premiere of Inglourious Basterds at Cannes this year, word of mouth did not match the intensity and savvy the trailers displayed. Feeling defeated, I retreated my expectations and prepared to wave for them the white flag reserved only for movies I may or may not watch on DVD. However, I marched on and victoriously found out that IB has much more life and fight than I was led to believe by that initial propaganda.
IB is a vicious monster of a movie that cunningly hides under floorboards, behind movie screens, and in glasses of milk. It is calculating, ruthless, illuminating and apprehensive in its execution. Although this movie is set within the depths of WWII, the war scenario is simply nothing more than the foundation of it all, and, you get the feeling that in Tarantino’s version of things you are somehow watching where the real battles veraciously took place.
Tarantino is in vivid form here. And, while all of his reputable signatures are still present, the execution is sharpened and superior to his previous films (save Pulp Fiction). But, the real star is Christoph Waltz and his portrayal of Hans Landa aka “The Jew Hunter”. Not only is Landa one of the best cinematic villains of all-time, but, it is his character that really embodies and manifests the movie in human form. From vile to suave, Waltz shows it all with deadly efficiency. Look for him to runaway with Oscar Gold come next February. As expected, everyone else gives brilliant performances, but all are out-shined by Waltz in the end.
This is the movie Tarantino has been touting as his masterpiece, and it doesn’t disappoint. I cringed as much as I laughed (which I did a lot) and I haven’t had more fun in a theater this year.
10/10
2 comments:
Agreed.
I really liked Inglourious Basterds a lot. However, I didn't think it was perfect. I'd probably give it somewhere between a 7/10 and a 8/10.
Tarantino has always been known for long extended dialogue scenes. As of late, they have been lacking in content and have been way too drawn out. This killed Death Proof for a lot of people and, while it irked me a little bit, it didn't drive me crazy.
I feel like some of the dialogue scenes went on for too long in this film as well. The strudel scene was too drawn out for my taste and wasn't as tense as it should have been (despite Landa's wonderful presence). I'd also say that the first half of the very long basement bar conversation was too long (though I found the later half very entertaining).
Still, the movie was really good. The music was wonderful (I loved the use of Bowie's "Cat People"), the surprise moments were great and Christoph Waltz was amazing as Landa the Jew Hunter. He made the opening scene very tense and I loved everything involving his character in the last half of the film. A lot of people are pointing to him as getting an Oscar this year and it just might happen. I also found the characters of Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent in a wonderful and subtle performance) and Nazi war hero Private Zoller (Daniel Brühl) very intriguing.
The last half of the film was great in general. I loved the insanity of it, all the twists that occurred and some of the haunting imagery that Tarantino achieves in its bloody climax.
I really liked the movie a lot. It's one of my favorites I've seen this year. I just wish it was cut a little tighter. I feel that it could have been a masterpiece if it had been.
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