THE BOMBER'S REVIEW OF:
INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS (2009)

OPENING THOUGHTS

    I freely put myself out there and admit that I am one of Quentin Tarantino's huge fans. I love almost all of his movies, and the ones I don't love, I really like. When I saw the preview for this, I was excited, and yet drawn back at the same time. I wasn't quite sure if Brad Pitt could pull off a crazy character with a southern accent. So I decided instead of risking my money at the theater I would wait for the DVD, and now this movie's time has come.

ACTING

    BRAD PITT led this cast, and literally through me for a loop with how well he did. He really took hold of his character, made it his bitch, and told it exactly how it was going to be. I was actually kind of sad that I didn't get to see as much of him and his "Basterds" in the movie as I was expecting. Still there is no doubt that he definitely did an outstanding job here.
    MELANIE LAURENT plays "the Jew that got away". Her character's story is very sad in this, and I thought she communicated that on the screen very well. When she met up again with the person responsible for her entire family's death, you could see the hate and fright in her eyes. The plan she comes up with for this movie's finale is nothing but pure hatred... and amazing.
    CHRISTOPH WALTZ received an Oscar for his rendering of Colonel Hans Landa, and I see now why he got it. He was surreal in this role. At one moment you thought he was the nicest guy and that he wanted to treat you like a king, the next you were scared he was going to chop off your balls and eat them in front of you. I honestly can't wait to see what he does next.

DIRECTION AND SCRIPT

    QUENTIN TARANTINO takes a stab at the WWII genre serving as the film's writer and director. I wasn't quite sure how this was going to turn out, but in the end of course, it was just another movie with his signature Tarantino spin on it. I thought his direction was very well done, and his subtleness was perfect. He went a little crazy with it near the end, but I still ended up loving his style. I didn't think that this was his best script however, in fact far from it actually. I felt like there was just too many plots thrown into the movie, plots that ended up leaving the Basterds high and dry. You saw them, yes, but when a movie is named after those characters you kind of expect them to be the focal point of the movie. I walked away wanting to see more of their hijinks and feeling like everything the Basterds were after just fell into their laps a little too neatly.

THE VERDICT

    I have to say that overall, I was kind of disappointed with this movie. There were a few lines that I really loved, but in the end it was the acting that was this film's saving grace. All in all, it felt like Quentin was almost trying to make a foreign film with just a spattering of American in it. I mean, I know you love foreign films man, but let's not forget you are American... and so is most of your audience.
 
 

RATING: C +

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