Inglourious Basterds
If you want to see a movie that mixes the exact right amounts of everything you want it to, do yourself a favor and go see Inglourious Basterds…now. At just over two and a half hours, it’s not a short movie, but it flies by. It only feels like an hour and a half and there are only a couple scenes that are a little slow moving, but these scenes have more than enough tension building to keep you engaged and not bored at all. At the end of the two and a half hours, I actually wanted more.
Despite all of the humor in this film, Inglourious Basterds is still very powerful and even difficult to watch at points. Starting right away in the opening scene, Tarantino sets the tone and makes you very uncomfortable as Col. Hans Landa visits a French family suspected of hiding Jews. I actually found this scene a little hard to watch. It was almost too much. Almost. After that, we get some pretty graphic violence that is more than enough, even for seasoned horror and action movie fans. From there, Tarantino very perfectly molds together two different stories that start off very unrelated, but come together quite well.
I won’t say much else because I want to leave the spoilers out of this one. I think much of what makes this film so great when you see it is not really knowing what’s going to happen next. Sometimes, you’re right and other times you’re not. And sometimes, what you want to happen, doesn’t.
Besides a couple of questions I have about some of the characters’ decisions toward the end of the movie (not actually gripes, but just a little interested in why), the only thing I’m torn about was the use of BJ Novak. Part of me thinks that his character may have been a little bit of a waste for him until the end, but part of me feels like it might have been a stretch to use him more. There was already a lot going on as it was and using him more probably would have felt a bit forced an overdone. So, I guess I’m happy with the way it was.
Rating: A+
PS: Eli Roth should stick to making movies like Cabin Fever and do less acting.
