This is Quentin Tarantino's seventh film that I can count, but its clear he's quickly becoming one of the top directors to work with. This film is a good example of why you would want to work with Tarantino. The man is an absolute genius when it comes to writing, and here is your perfect example.
Like most of his other works, this film is really two films in one, a dialogue driven picture, and then an action packed shoot'em up fest. But unlike Deathproof, which I thought wasn't very good, Inglorious Basterds makes up for every flaw in that film.
Granted, as noted, there is a lot, and I do mean a lot of dialogue, and most of it is in subtitles. But... that's beyond the point, because it works in this case. You never know what is coming next, and when things do end up exploding, they damn sure have a reason.
SPOILERS BELOW --- GO SEE THE MOVIE BEFORE READING THE NEXT PARAGRAH----
Inglorious Basterds tells several stories of Nazi Occupied France during WWII. All of the stories come together, but the main focus of the film is on a small group of soldiers from the US, the Germans call "Basterds." This group of soldiers is sent on one mission and one only, to kill Nazis.
They are lead by Brad Pitt, whose accent isn't as annoying as most make it out to be.
There is a major film starring a hero German premiering in a Paris theater and all the higher-ups including Hitler himself are there, and two assassination plans to bring the war to an end are going on at the same time, unknown to each other.
Each and every piece of the film ties together well in the end.
--END SPOILERS--
Lets break this massive work of art down into its aspects...
Acting. This is a rare Tarantino film that doesn't contain his common actors, i.e. Uma Thurman, Michael Madsen etc. Most of the actors are unknowns, but man do they do well. From the get go, I was sucked into the story, and before I knew it, my pants were flying toward the screen and people were looking at me. Ahh!
That didn't happen, but the acting is excellent, I forgot I was watching a movie for a few seconds. I wanted to see more.
The story is typical of Tarantino, all over the place at first with a lot of dialog, but at the end, it all comes together nicely, and you say ah, why couldn't this be non-fiction, and really have happened. History would have been so much cooler had it been this way. Also, Americans would be feared throughout the world by evil-doers not laughing at our president idiot Bush. Thank god he's gone, but still, he ruined our country. Anyway, back to the movie.
I didn't care about the length of the film once things got going. I thought it was extremely original, and I have to say that maybe Tarantino is the only director willing to write NEW material in Hollywood. Everyone else is throwing crap out and hoping it will stick. See the summer blockbusters for examples.
Don't you agree that Transformers, GI Joe, and many other "big" movies this year are all too much alike. Nothing original is being made any more, which is why I need to hurry my ass up and get into Hollywood to kick out the old blood and put some fresh ideas into it. I'm sorry, but movies these days have lost their appeal when the story is the same as the next movie and/or its a remake/sequel. Start producing fresh crap instead of cow pie movies.
Inglorious Basterds gets 4.3 stars out of 5 for being well worth 8 bucks and a late night movie that left me clapping, as did the rest of the audience.
On a side note, I was cheering through the finale. Yay!
Note: this review is also on my facebook.
The payoff of this scene being so long is well worth it.