Inglourious Basterds

I dont think I hated this film. But I'm not quite sure.

It is definitely way too long, and the reason for it is simple, Tarantino makes all of his scenes too long. There are some nice scenes in this film and some nice acting, but others let it down badly. Brad Pitt is hopeless, unconvincing and thoroughly un-menacing as the brutal Nazi-Killer.

There is one simple story line and it takes a ridiculously long time to come about. I am not sure what message he is trying to get across in this film, but in the end it is a muddle of cinematic history, ultra violence and little else.

The ultra violence is served up sparingly, after long bouts of tense(ish) build ups. In one scene we get to meet "The Bear" one of the Inglourious, and there is an unbearably long wait for the club wielding bastard to come in to view. The problem is, that its not tension or fear unbearable - its tedium unbearable.

The clever movie reviewers at the New York Times, will be able to tell you all the famous movie references and style references etc. etc. But for me I just want to be entertained, and was to some degree. But Tarantino fell down at the most crucial stage, that of The Story. The film is basically a collage of loosely related scenes that lead up to the story which comes to view after 2 hours of the movie have passed.

I'm sure that a lot of people will enjoy this film, but for me I like a film to make me think or to laugh or even to scare the life out of me. It did the latter a couple of times, and I found myself covering my eyes at some of the gory bits.

I think this is basically a comic book trying to be a movie. Its all meaningless dialogue pasted around lots of pretty pictures filled with action and 2 dimensional characters.

I know Tarantino fans think the man is God, so to them I say sorry, but I think I did hate this film.

Oh, and I did spot the Mike Meyers Cameo and was duly unimpressed with his flagging british accent. (public school educated british army types tend not to have scratchy accents that come in and out mike!)

SAm