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  Waiting for a new Quentin Tarantino movie is a little like waiting for your toilet to overflow: You have a pretty good idea what to expect, but you're always still a little surprised when it finally comes around.

I think Inglorious Basterds is going to be considered Quentin Tarantino's most divisive film. I think there are plenty of people that will love this movie, and plenty that will despise it. I think there's a lot to admire in it, and a lot to critique.  Some are going to consider this to be an epic adventure film, with an ambitious plot, and deep, layered characters. And some are going to think it's a sprawling mess made by a sociopathic narcissist with a foot fetish. Hopefully somebody will tell me which one I agree with, as I can't really decide. 

The plot is this:

In a slightly altered version of World War II, A Jewish woman (played by Melanie Laurent) seeks revenge for her dead family, on the Nazis that are holding a film premiere in her Parisian cinema.

It's also this:

A group of Jewish American commandoes (led by Brad Pitt) who normally spend their time terrorizing SS soldiers seek revenge on the Nazis who happen to be hosting a film premiere in Paris.

And this:

A British OSS officer goes undercover as an SS officer in order to help a group of Jewish American commandoes seek revenge on the Nazis, who happen to be hosting a film premiere in Paris.

 And this:

A famous German actress plays double agent in order to help a group of Jewish American commandoes seek revenge on the Nazis, who happen to be hosting a film premier in Paris.

And even this:

A diabolical Nazi detective (played by Christoph Waltz) hunts down renegade Jews, as well as acting as head of security for a film premier that the Nazis happen to be hosting in Paris.

Things I liked:

• The characters. Tarantino has written some of the most memorable characters in his career for this film, and that's saying something. The highest compliment you can give a character is to say you want to see more of it, and that's very much the case with almost each one in Basterds. Hans Landa might be the best movie villain we've seen since No Country for Old Men.

• The plot. It takes a lot of skill to handle so many plot threads, and for the most part Tarantino pulls it off admirably.

• The cast. People will be talking about some of the performances in this film for years to come. Like most of Tarantino's films it's a true ensemble cast, but Christoph Waltz and Melanie Laurent deserve special mention here.

• It's original. Kind of. This is the closest Tarantino has come to making a spaghetti western, but it's not nearly as obvious as an homage as his last few films. He's created a unique world here.

• The cinematography. Although I can't say it's going to be my favourite film of the year, I can say hands down it's got some of my favourite scenes of the year. The farm house scene that opens the movie and the cinema scene that closes it are going to be discussed for decades. The image of Jackie Ido saying good bye to the burning image of his lover near the end of the film has been seared in my brain for weeks.

Things I didn't quite like as much.

• Believe it or not, the movie feels rushed. Each of the plots that I described earlier could have easily carried their own film. Tarantino has said that he considered making this a HBO style multi part (competitor) series for TV, and I'm not sure that was such a bad idea. I feel as if there is so much I don't know. How did Marcel and Shoshanna meet? What did Landa do before the war? Or the Bear Jew? How did Also Raine get that scar? At times it feels as if Quentin isn't sure if his new creation is a caper movie, a revenge flick, or Romeo and Juliet homage? There is so much going on that I felt as if I was watching trailers for 4 good movies, and one bad, rather than watching one great one. So much is crammed into 2 and half hours that it does the film a considerable disservice. While not economically feasible, splitting the film (a la Kill Bill) might have allowed Tarantino to flesh out his characters and plots a little better

• The restaurant scene specifically, but, pretty much everything to do with the Archie Wilcox character. I hate to say it, but everything from when Mike Meyers shows up to when Aldo Raine confronts the actress in the hospital was almost painful to watch. What should have been a tense drama ended up as farce, and it seemed as if a lot of time was being spent on building up characters that a) didn't really contribute much to the overall plot, and b) weren't really that interesting to begin with. In fact, the more I think about it, that scene is really the only thing that stopped me from out and out loving this film. This is fine, except that it takes up almost 20% of the film.

While not perfect, this film is definitely creative, challenging, and entertaining. In recent years, it seems as if Quentin Tarantino has put more effort into promoting his films than he did in making them, so it's nice to see something so focused and disciplined from one of today's most interesting film makers.

Rating: A-

Message Edited by TimR on 08-28-2009 01:50 PM