Sunday, September 20, 2009

Movie Review: Inglorious Basterds

First off let me say that I am a huge Pulp Fiction fan. Quentin Tarentino's other movies get mixed reviews - some are gory for the sake of being gory (see Kill Bill parts 1 and 2) but Pulp Fiction was the perfect blend of violence, plot, and stellar dialogue.

In Inglorious Basterds Tarentino once again mixes violence, plot and dialogue to make a riveting film. He introduces American audiences to a new star, Christoph Waltz who played the evil Hans Landa. Best villain since Darth Vader in my opinion. His character captures the audience from the very first "chapter" of the movie and every time he is on screen he is riveting. Compared to him Brad Pitt is just a pretty boy with a really strange southern accent.

Speaking of Mr. Pitt - he is the one thing I don't feel very sure of in the movie. The Basterds are a group of 8 Jewish American soldiers who's job it is to kill Nazi's and bring back scalps. I know that some scalping took place in the movie - however I didn't watch those parts at all - and I can assure you Marina did not either. Major yuck factor. The Basterds are terrific and even add to their forces as the movie progresses. But Brad Pitt is just not that good at accents - you can almost every time he speaks that he's thinking about his accent. And his effort to play a real man also seems forced. I found myself trying to cast the role of Aldo Raine in the movie and finally I came up with young Robert Mitchum - he would have been absolutely perfect in that role - he had the right mix of Southern Drawl (think Night of the Hunter) and real menace that would have made him perfect. Pitt becomes more a figure of humor every time he speaks, which is a relief during some of the more violent portions of the movie.

So do I recommend this movie - absolutely see it. Brad Pitt isn't in as much of it as you'd think from the commercials and the other characters are all fascinating. Be prepared for some violence - ok a lot of violence - but once you get through Chapter 1 you will see why I am voting Christoph Waltz for the Oscars. He literally blows you mind as he conducts the most civilized and horrifying of questioning in French, German and English.

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