Starting off, I think I should have seen Valkyrie. There were a lot of big name actors in it - Eddie Izzard (ironically you'll always see him in a suit in his movies), Kenneth Branaugh, Bill Nighy, Tom Cruise. Inversely for Inglourious Basterds, you have a dynamic cast with many European actors/actresses that may not particularly ring a bell of familiarity to the American audience. And yet, what of it? You have Bradd Pitt, of course, which the trailers on TV name drop, focusing on his star presence to pummel the box office. There's also BJ Novak who was taught to make onscreen scalping casual business. But everyone knows what to expect when they see "Quentin Tarantino".
I found Mike Myers' small role as a British general to be refreshing and entertaining in 'Chapter 3: Operation Kino.' Taking a break from the scalping and machine gun firing, he and the British Lieutenant/film critic Archie Hicox made me chuckle when they toasted to "damn Hitler" like the boozed-up, witty, noncholant Brits that they played. Michael Fassbender, who plays Lt. Hicox, puts up the greatest moments of cinema I have ever seen in my life. It is the moment in which he enters the room, looks up, and has the oh my god that's Winston Churchill expression. On a side note, I would have wished to have seen (nothing against Eli Roth) Adam Sandler hitting a home run against some Nazi cranium instead, just because the most recent thing I've seen from him was 50 First Dates, which was wonderful.
What everyone loved was SS Colonel Hans Landa. Few times will I see these occasional movies where great actors bring (a) unique edge(s) to the villains that they play. I think of Gary Oldman's corrupt DEA agent in Leon or as Americans identify it, The Professional. Chris Waltz does his own act and creates this knowing, calculating, wolf-like villain who prefers milk to wine. "Chapter 1: Once Upon a Time in Nazi Occupied France" was my favorite scene. Director Tarantino drew out many of his scenes and the actors followed in suit. "Qui", "Qui", "Qui" ... that interrogation in the LaPadites' home. Perrier LaPadite wonderfully set the mood through his prolonged struggle to stay %#&# calm while watching Landa drink milk, smoke, and speak with a sadists' tongue. Though the end did surprise me in seeing Landa as a turncoat, which makes one fully realize that he is someone that does what he does because he enjoys it and stays committed to it. Or maybe we see that in that first chapter. He is not obsessed like that of Dr. Joseph Goebbels who glorifies the Third Reich and Fuhrer - though in this movie he is made fun of in all of his scenes very subtlely.
The sparing of the life of Shossana was the undoing of them all, perhaps, although the Basterds did their job well, 2 lives remaining. Although it felt entirely different from Kill Bill, (and because of having watched it) I could not really feel the emotional complexity in her character as easy as it was the Bride's. Maybe the sound effects made it easier - those sirens and red flashing on the screen. To sum it all up, it is what it is. This summer has been a high octane trip for Hollywood and the eyes of movie goers. Personally, my eyes were on fire ever since Star Trek came out, which I felt was best movie of the summer. I respect Tarantino for not surpassing the $100M budget. In fact, the film as recorded on Wiki is $70M. Kill Bill's Vol 1&2 combined budget was $60M. Here's a resourceful director that loves film so much that he is one such director that deserves to continue what he's been doing for years. Michael Bay blew it with all his movies, The Rock and Transformers (still high budget) being the two exceptions in my opinion. And I can only perish the thought of imagining what horrors the $170M G.I. Joe amassed for the audience. Friends still tell me about their disappointments with the lack of CGI quality. They also tell me District 9 was Blood Diamond with aliens, albeit still original in many ways. And Harry Potter 6 delivered! Just don't see it with me.
If you decide to see this film, you'll either love it or hate it but regardless, you'll be mildly entertained. If you're what I like to call a 'conservative Tarantino-fan', I think you'll hold Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill higher in ranking then Inglourious Basterds.
This post became a movie review as that movie can make a man dwell. An ending note for Inglourious Basterds would have to be this - it would be even cooler if you saw French/German films back in the 20s. Then you could really appreciate the movie-lovers sentiment this movie plays with.
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