This summer, Hollywood gave us a great coming-of-age film with wizards, a surprisingly fresh comedy about a weekend in Las Vegas that finally gave Zach Galifianakis – the fat one – the mainstream attention he deserves and a fantastic epic adventure with phasers, spaceships and Vulcans (I still can’t believe I just said that). Tack on “District 9” and “Public Enemies,” and the summer of 2009 was full of critically acclaimed guy movies – no thanks to “Terminator.” However, one of the most memorable films of the summer came two weeks ago, in a smart, blood-soaked package that only a Quentin Tarantino project can provide.
To be honest, I had relatively low expectations for “Inglourious Basterds.” After its premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May, critics were screaming “too long,” “too much dialogue,” and “too not-the-comeback-from ‘Grindhouse’ we wanted.” It also didn’t help that one of the only promotions I heard all summer was an hour-long radio show that Tarantino hosted on Sirius XM, in which he played some of the songs he claimed he listened to while filming (Jason Mraz and an acoustic version of “Waterfalls?”).
But, oh, how wrong I was.
“Basterds” engaged me from the opening credits. The title of the opening chapter, “Once Upon a Time in Nazi-Occupied France,” which plays homage to spaghetti westerns, sets the stage, saying “This is not your grandfather’s World War II hero movie,” a point Tarantino continues to elaborate by adding a David Bowie score to the soundtrack.
Sure, the dialogue does drag at times, and no, this is not the director’s crowning achievement, although I think it is his best effort since “Pulp Fiction.” That being said, I cannot remember the last time I had so much fun at the movies. The characters seem to jump straight out of a graphic novel, and Brad Pitt’s Lt. Aldo Raine is one of the best creations Tarantino has ever given us, not to mention the superb jobs done by Eli Roth and Christoph Waltz. And did I mention Samuel L. Jackson narrates?
“Inglourious Basterds” is a fun, bloody movie dotted with scenes of absolute cinematic greatness. It isn’t forgiving, heartfelt, emotional or any other worn-out element associated with almost every war movie made since Vietnam. It’s Tarantino’s World War II, right down to the history, with which he takes great liberty describing. Any problems aside, it’s worth seeing simply because there has never been a movie like it. Besides, who doesn’t want to watch a group of Jews assassinate Nazis?
