A review by Brooks Rich
There is a five year gap between Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglorious Basterds. I had kind of written Tarantino off personally after the failure of Grindhouse, I truly think Death Proof is one of the worst films, short or otherwise, ever made, and honestly I didn't care for Kill Bill Vol. 2. So when Tarantino returned with an alternative history film about World War 2 I was dubious. Also a little confused. Like what, Tarantino made a film about Jewish Americans hunting down and killing Nazis in a fictionalized Nazi controlled France? Ok. Sure whatever.
So do I like this film? Yes. I don't love it and I think it doesn't fully work as a whole but yes I like this film and I think it has two of the best scenes of modern cinema. The opening scene is astonishing where the SS show up to French dairy farm looking to see if they are hiding Jews. This scene introduced western audiences to the majesty that is Christoph Waltz, who Tarantino would direct to two supporting actor wins, the first one here. Oh my God Waltz in this scene. He enters and just commands the screen from his first word in French. Waltz is fascinating as the main antagonist of the film Colonel Hans Landa, a former detective now hunting down Jews for the SS. Waltz is the best thing about this movie. Hands down this is one of those rare performances that don't come around all the time. Well it seems it only does when Tarantino writes a part for Waltz. If the next film after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Tarantino's last film, I hope Waltz has a sizable part.
The second scene that stands out in Basterds is the scene where a trio of Basterds go down to bar to meet up with a spy but unfortunately a group of Nazis are drunkenly playing a card game and an SS officer is there as well. I don't want to spoil anything about the scene but it is one of the most tense suspenseful dialogue scenes ever put to film. Very few directors can construct and shoot a dialogue scene like this, where you are tense with every word spoken, even with all the lines in German.
My biggest problem with this film is that the scenes between the girl at the movie theater and the sniper just feel kind of slight in the grand scheme of things. It all comes together of course and nothing is bad, it's just always taken away from the experience as a whole. I still think this is a very good film and the start of Tarantino's historical period. Check it out if you haven't.
There is a five year gap between Kill Bill Vol. 2 and Inglorious Basterds. I had kind of written Tarantino off personally after the failure of Grindhouse, I truly think Death Proof is one of the worst films, short or otherwise, ever made, and honestly I didn't care for Kill Bill Vol. 2. So when Tarantino returned with an alternative history film about World War 2 I was dubious. Also a little confused. Like what, Tarantino made a film about Jewish Americans hunting down and killing Nazis in a fictionalized Nazi controlled France? Ok. Sure whatever.
So do I like this film? Yes. I don't love it and I think it doesn't fully work as a whole but yes I like this film and I think it has two of the best scenes of modern cinema. The opening scene is astonishing where the SS show up to French dairy farm looking to see if they are hiding Jews. This scene introduced western audiences to the majesty that is Christoph Waltz, who Tarantino would direct to two supporting actor wins, the first one here. Oh my God Waltz in this scene. He enters and just commands the screen from his first word in French. Waltz is fascinating as the main antagonist of the film Colonel Hans Landa, a former detective now hunting down Jews for the SS. Waltz is the best thing about this movie. Hands down this is one of those rare performances that don't come around all the time. Well it seems it only does when Tarantino writes a part for Waltz. If the next film after Once Upon a Time in Hollywood is Tarantino's last film, I hope Waltz has a sizable part.
The second scene that stands out in Basterds is the scene where a trio of Basterds go down to bar to meet up with a spy but unfortunately a group of Nazis are drunkenly playing a card game and an SS officer is there as well. I don't want to spoil anything about the scene but it is one of the most tense suspenseful dialogue scenes ever put to film. Very few directors can construct and shoot a dialogue scene like this, where you are tense with every word spoken, even with all the lines in German.
My biggest problem with this film is that the scenes between the girl at the movie theater and the sniper just feel kind of slight in the grand scheme of things. It all comes together of course and nothing is bad, it's just always taken away from the experience as a whole. I still think this is a very good film and the start of Tarantino's historical period. Check it out if you haven't.
Comments
Post a Comment