My Rating - ****&1/2 out of 5*
Anything handled in the Tarantinesque manner definitely feels different.
The same is the case with World War II. Tarantino is again in his own splitting the movie into chapters and the final chapter bringing together the earlier ones to a final denouement, there is the typical dark humour, characters with their whims, shootouts, extreme violence and the accents. There is US Southern, several German accents, French and Italian.
A Nazi SS Officer Landa who is a Jew Hunter opens the movie with his exploits. Then a group of American soldiers is sent in to kill Nazis and spread terror - these are the Inglorious Basterds. And a Jew girl who runs a movie theater in Paris. All the characters get intertwined with their separate plots intersecting the plot of others.
As usual the movie is a thriller in typical Tarantino style. If you have acquired the taste, you will enjoy it. If you have not, then this may be a good start. Finally, if you did not like his earlier works, you may not enjoy this one either.
What I found fascinating was the absolutely free use of the very big characters of the War. I mean almost everyone from the Third Reich's top leadership is shown as well as some from other side of the sea as well. Again a lot of dialogue is in French and German, you have to read the movie in those scenes.
In the actors, Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa of SS stands out. He always speaks in jest but is menacing. His scenes are the best. Brad Pitt is great with that Southern accent as the terror spreader amongst Nazis. Check out his scene in the last part of the movie. Finally, Melanie Laurent is amazing as the girl who has somehow escaped Landa.
Rant - My friend and I had a bunch of college going kids by our side. Now I agree you want to have fun at cinema but it does not mean you ruin others fun. These kids found it difficult to understand the movie because it suddenly broke into German or French. And they were not reading the subtitles. You may not like the movie making style and you are within your rights to criticize it but NOT when the show is on. Afterwards, outside.
Anyway, I once requested them to sit quiet. They tried to but could not because of reasons of emergency such as an irrepressible urge to make a comment on Brad Pitt's moustache. So then, we shifted to a more quieter zone.
It is a shame that they were not trying to appreciate what was made, especially considering they are fortunate that such movies get released to cinemas they can easily reach and their parents can easily afford.
