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August 25, 2009

Tarantino goes to War

Sean McBride

“Inglorious Basterds”

A Weinstein Company Film

Directed by Quentin Tarantino

Starring Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, B.J. Novak,  Omar Doom and Mike Myers

Rated R

 

 3 1/2 Stars        

 

Quentin Tarantino’s films have always been a complicated mix of kicky exploitation cinema, film-fanatic arrogance and pure B-Movie fanboy adoration. His movies tend to be hit-and-miss with audiences; some loving his edgy auteur voice, others recoiling from his audacious cinematic showmanship.

I fall into the former camp, and while I understand why QT is not for all tastes, I also appreciate that the filmmaker has produced some of the most literate and wildly entertaining films of recent memory.

Tarantino’s latest film, “Inglorious Basterds,” may very well be his best film since “Kill Bill.” Brad Pitt, of all people, stars as Lt. Raine, an American commander who leads a band of guerrilla soldiers during World War II. Their job is “killing Nazis,” and Raine expects every one of his men to come back with 100 Nazi scalps, or die trying to get them.

A second storyline follows a young Jewish woman (Melanie Laurent) who fled a Nazi massacre and now works a movie theater. She gets a chance for revenge when her theater is chose for the premiere of a Nazi propaganda film. Hitler and several other high-ranking S.S. officials will be in attendance. Sounds like a perfect opportunity to somebody to plant a bomb and take out a good chunk of the Third Reich with one big, bloody boom.

Ostensibly, “Inglorious Basterds” is an action film, although in true Tarantino style, the film features a lot more talk than action. That’s not a problem because Tarantino is one of the best writers of dialogue working today, so his scenes have a wonderful cadence and a lot of humor. They are a joy to watch.

Also in true Tarantino style, the film is quite bloody, most notably in the moments where “The Jew Bear” (Eli Roth) uses a baseball bat to dispatch an enemy soldier. Tarantino’s never shied away from a good brain-splatter effect, and he holds his ground here.

But you know all of this if you’ve ever seen one of QT’s previous films. If you weren’t a fan in those earlier movies, the odds are that you’re not going to see this latest endeavor. Those who are fans should know exactly what to expect, and they should thrill to a Tarantino film turned up to full speed. It’s not breaking any new ground, stylistically, but “Inglorious Basterds” an extremely entertaining war movie/holocaust revenge fantasy, the best work the filmmaker’s done in years. As I said, it’s his best work since “Kill Bill,” and perhaps his most notable work since “Pulp Fiction.”

Movie reviews by Sean, “The Movie Guy,” are published bi-weekly in “The Port Arthur News” and weekly on KFDM-TV. You can also follow Seanthemovie guy on Twitter. Sean welcomes your comments via email at smcbride@kbcitv.com.

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