Inglourious Basterds

So... should I feel bad reviewing a movie about Jews killing Nazis right after I did a review of The Prince of Egypt, one of the stories of Jewish hardship? Or should I feel weird that I go from an uplifting movie like Prince of Egypt to an incredibly violent movie like Inglourious Basterds?

All that aside, let's take a moment and talk about Quentin Tarantino...

Why every time I come out of a Tarantino movie, my immediate reaction is... this.

I honestly came out of Pulp Fiction with a shrug. While I really liked Reservoir Dogs, I couldn't really couldn't get into Kill Bill. While I wasn't unimpressed with Django Unchained, I didn't love it like everyone else did. I still haven't seen Jackie Brown (even though I eventually plan to) and it took me a long time to see this film, Inglourious Basterds.

Now a lot of the movies that I have mentioned, I have come back to and enjoyed on second viewings. Pulp Fiction is one, Django Unchained is another. I still think they're a little bit overhyped, especially Pulp Fiction, but its all a matter of knowing Tarantino's style before I get into the movie. I enjoyed Pulp Fiction a lot more after I watched Reservoir Dogs, after I watched Django and while I still think its a little overhyped, I enjoy that movie more because I know how Tarantino does his movies.

Now I have my personal thoughts on Tarantino as a person, but that's not what this is about. Let's talk about Inglourious Basterds.

So I go into Inglourious Basterds, knowing what its about, knowing how Tarantino does his movies, and I was ready to enjoy this movie...

So why did I come out of it with a shrug the same way I did with Pulp Fiction?

Inglourious Basterds accounts three stories that interchange set in Nazi occupied France. The beginning introduces the antagonist Hans Landa (played by Christoph Waltz), an officer with the Nazi SS who's mission is to hunt down jews in France. He's so good at his job that his nickname is the Jew Hunter.

From the very beginning, Landa is just the kind of guy you want to punch square in the face. He is the worst kind of person, hunting down jews for the Nazis, he is the worst of the worst. He does however, distinguish himself from any other Nazi as he is incredibly good at reading people. And that is the kind of the theme of the movie, there are a lot of instances where the long conversations that Tarantino is known for are just opportunities for people to read one another and figure out if they are real or not.

Well in the beginning, Landa sniffs out a Jewish family and murders all of them except for one of them, a young girl named Shosana Dreyfuss (played by Melanie Laurent). Shosana grows up to change her identity and own a small theater in France. There she gains the fancy of a young Nazi war hero named Fredrick Zoller (played by Daniel Bruhl).

But as her family was murdered by Nazis, Shosana jumps at the chance to plan a murder a lot of Nazi officials when they offer her the opportunity to host a Nazi propaganda film debut at her theater.

On top of that, you have the story of the Basterds. A rag tag group of Jewish American soldiers who infiltrate Nazi occupied France ahead of the allies in order to strike fear into the Nazi regime.

This group of soldiers is led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (played by Brad Pitt). Raine's philosophy of leadership is to strike fear into the Germans in the same way the Apache would strike fear, by launching a guerrilla campaign against the Nazis behind enemy lines.

The Basterds leave no man alive, scalping their victims in order to strike fear into the German military, and the ones that they do leave alive are left with a scar that shamefully identifies them as a Nazi forever.

And on top of that, tying both these stories together, is a secret covert mission orchestrated by the British in order take out a number of Nazi officials.

A plan is hatched to use the Basterds and a German actress turned spy by the name of Bridget von Hammersmark (played by Diane Kruger) to assassinate a number of Nazi officials at the same film debut that is set to air at Shosana's theater.

Let's talk about the good things about this movie first.

The movie is beautifully shot. I'm not usually one who comments on the cinematography of a film, but even I noticed how the movie was brilliantly shot and how the angles and just the way the camera moved all contributed to the film as a whole.

What also worked was how well the stories connected and yet really didn't. There's a lot of coincidence and happen stance that happens in this movie, like the covert mission happening in the very theater that Shoshana plans to burn down to murder the nazi officials there, the same nazi officials the Basterds and the British want to assassinate.

On top of that, I suppose you could say that these are the closest characters in a Tarantino movie that I've come to care about. I've always had a hard time relating to the characters in Tarantino movies because most of them are just the worst kinds of people. Jules and Vincent aren't good people, they're just funny, mainly because they're Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta. I actually wanted Shosana to succeed. That is also helped because the antagonists in this film are the Nazis, historically, they're like the Empire of the real world. You just love to hate them.

On top of it all, because I knew what kind of movie I was watching, I was able to understand the humor and actually thought the movie was funny at certain times, which I think is interesting, especially considering the subject matter. I mean its Nazis during the Holocaust, and a lot of blood. That doesn't always translate to laughs.

But now I want to talk about the things that I didn't really like.

While there were some characters that I actually did feel connected to and wanted to see succeed, there were a lot of characters that were just plain assholes and who I didn't mind seeing dead. As funny of a character Aldo Raine was, I can't say I really cared for him that much or will remember him in the future. Hans Landa was an intimidating villain for sure but I really felt he was thrown into the movie whenever they felt it was convenient. I wasn't totally sure of his role in the entire film, really until the end, and his ending really didn't seem satisfying enough.

I might sound unintelligent or incredibly American by saying this, but I wasn't a huge fan of over half the movie being in subtitles. I get it, we're in Germany, they don't speak English there. Its not a huge complaint, just be warned, if you go into this movie, expect to read more than you watch.

Then unfortunately, Tarantino really kind of wasted a character in Lieutenant Archie Hicox. I mean you've got the great Michael Fassbender and his character is thrown away pretty quickly in a crass and almost meaningless way. Obviously Hicox wasn't suppose to be the focus of the movie, but damn Tarantino.

I mentioned before how there is this air of paranoia throughout the movie, in that anything can give someone away as a spy and anybody can detect you if you get something wrong. The bar scene is a perfect example of things going very wrong, very quickly, and almost like a really quick firework, it goes off, is a huge flame for a half a second and then goes out almost instantly.

While the characters are good, I think Tarantino thought the script was better than it actually was. While you had some great performances by people, there are a lot of characters that I think Tarantino thought the he explained who they were but when they died, you realized that you knew absolutely nothing about them. Suddenly there is no connection and eventually you kind of forget that that person died in the first place, really negating any impact their death was suppose to have.

Now, to be fair, I think I know what this movie was trying to do. I read a review that praised this movie and their attempt to place Jews in the place of Nazis and show something about human nature and violence. In a way, it kind of turned the tables and suddenly the Jews are the ones pulling off all this violence against the Nazis. Is that okay since the tables are turned? I suppose those are the questions that must be asked when watching this movie.

My problem with Tarantino is that he does this thing where he has his characters say a lot, but at the same time, they really say nothing at all. They have these long conversations that go on and on and in the end, what did we actually learn from them? What did we really learn from the conversation between Shosana and Landa where they're eating strudel besides the fact that Landa doesn't know who Shosana is and Shosana is very good at hiding the absolute fear she's experiencing while talking to the guy who murdered her family.

In my personal taste, I think Tarantino is just a little too pretentious for his own good.

Call me a heretic for saying this but this is probably why I came out of Inglourious Basterds with the same feeling I had when I came out of Pulp Fiction. I feel like Tarantino is trying to push across some kind of message, but the majority of movie going audiences aren't going to get it because its buried in cumbersome dialogue and over the top violence.

I know a lot of people who enjoy this movie because its just Americans going and kicking some Nazi ass. They don't see that its suppose to be questioning the actions of Aldo Raine and his men and the possibility that perhaps revenge isn't the best option for atrocities that seem like the only recourse can be something like revenge.

I don't know, maybe I'm not giving the average movie going audience enough credit, maybe I'm reading too much into this movie, maybe I just don't like Quentin Tarantino. But I just feel like the message of his movies get lost in the violence and dialogue that his movies are known for. I'm not saying brutal violence is bad or the use of a lot of dialogue is bad either, I just think that Tarantino puts it in a way that smart people do understand, and the rest of us just say that we do because everyone else is raving about these movies. That's just my opinion, I could be wrong. Take it as you will.

But those are my thoughts on Inglourious Basterds. What did you think? Is my theory on Tarantino correct? Comment and Discuss below! Also follow me on Twitter @cmhaugen24 to get updates on movie reviews and news. You can also shoot me your thoughts and future requests.

I'll leave you with this. Again, another Cracked video. This one is all about Tarantino films. Enjoy!