08/21/09 - Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious Basterds (2009, 153 min)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361748/

I think this is probably the first midnight showing I've gone to in maybe forever. I was extremely hyped for this movie so I was incredibly pumped to check it out at midnight. The last few times I've been overly anxious for a movie (Public Enemies, The Wrestler), the movies have been good but not jaw-droppingly excellent like I was expecting so I was a little nervous to see how Inglourious Basterds would stand.

The movie is two interwoven stories. The first is that of the titular Basterds as they try and destroy the Nazis. Led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and featuring the killing "talents" of Sergeant Danny Donowitz (Eli Roth), Sergeant Hugo Stiglitz (Til Schweiger) and numerous others they mercilessly beat every group of Nazis they encounter. The other story is that of the escaped Jew Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) working as a cinema owner who gets the chance to premiere a German movie. With this opportunity she vows to burn the cinema down to get her revenge. The antagonist of both groups is the same Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz).

The film is broken into five parts and each carry a completely different vibe. The first creates an absolutely fantastic setting. Titled "Once Upon a Time... in Nazi-occupied France" it pays homage to Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. Right from the start I knew this movie was going to be awesome. Simply put the music in this opening chapter was so reminiscent of Ennio Morricone that I almost thought he'd done the score. The close-ups and setting and just about everything reminded me of the westerns of Leone. It was great.

Following this introduction we go to chapter two - "The Inglourious Basterds" - where we get to meet the whole group. These are the scenes that we see in the trailers. We meet Lt. Raine, Sgt. Donowitz, and Sgt. Stiglitz along with all their brutality. This is the most over-the-top section of the movie in my opinion with Pitt going all-out with his Southern accent, Roth going crazy with his baseball bat beating, and Stiglitz's impeccable suaveness demonstrated in the flashback. It's bloody and brutal and really serves as the second half of the introduction that is started in chapter one.

Moving on, we go to chapter three which pretty much covers the important plot points for the Dreyfus character. It is, in my opinion, the worst chapter of the five, but it also has the most plot with the least amount of action and is such a drastic break after that of the first two chapters. Here we get actual story that somewhat drags but is completely necessary. Having another action packed chapter would just make the movie too much of an adrenaline rush to handle so it was needed. We are reacquainted with Col. Landa's genius and cunning and it's chilling. There's not much to say for this section besides Waltz adding to an already superb performance. Laurent does fine for herself in the section, but Waltz steals every scene he's in with ease.

Chapter four returns us to the Basterds as they learn of the plot that has occurred in chapter three. With new plans set into motion we have a long drawn-out scene in an underground tavern, incredibly tense but somewhat too long. It follows the Tarantino style of having a long chat at a table in a long take with the camera circling around the room, making sure to capture every person in the room in its patrol. We also return to the spaghetti western theme with two stand-offs one right after another complete with up close face shots also reminding me of Leone. These, coupled with the length of the previous babble give this chapter an odd blend of excitement and bore that is hit or miss.

As we move to the final chapter five, everything comes together and culminates in a huge finish. The Basterds plans change somewhat but the overall plan moves into action while Dreyfus continues her plan to burn the theater to the ground with all the Nazis in it. Col. Landa again appears to display his cunning, discovering one of the German traitors and killing her along with capturing Lt. Raine and his men and making a deal to save himself for an end to the war. The scenes with Waltz and Pitt are simply astounding with both giving solid performances, Waltz actually managing to upstage Pitt's hilarious accent with his own crazy antics. The closing shots are bloated blood and guts but I really didn't care. It returns us to the bloody over-the-top-ness of chapter two, but it's just too great. After all this plot to set up a fantastic story we get the huge climax it deserves. I loved it. As for the actual final scenes with Lt. Raine and Col. Landa they were the most appropriate ending and the closing shot being the typical Tarantino "trunk shot" was also fitting.

And finally, as in any Quentin Tarantino movie, I must make some comments on the soundtrack. Surprisingly, this movie seemed to feature less recognizable tunes (at least for me). As I wrote about above, the music chosen for chapter one was breathtaking in its ability to recreate that of Morricone. Most of the other music was well placed and that but not that memorable. However, there is one scene in what had to have been chapter five with Dreyfus that is great. It's essentially no dialogue with a camera following her as she gets ready to host the big premiere. Again, not a recognizable song, but it was a perfect choice for that scene.

Overall, I gave this film a 9/10. I was amazed by it. Some of the parts were overly long, but these were also partly necessary - maybe. In any case, we get a great hybrid of action and plot, blending together multiple genres with various tributes thrown in and great acting and frequently hilarious dialogue. I'll be interested to see how it stands the test of time with other Tarantino works. I feel Lt. Raine will go down with the likes of The Bride or someone but not reach Jules or Vincent status of Pulp Fiction fame. In my opinion, though, Waltz was actually the star of the show and the talk of him deserving an Oscar nomination for this role is appropriate. I can easily say Inglourious Basterds lived up to my immense hype.

[Note: Due to a voting update, I have changed the rating of Inglourious Basterds to a 10/10.]