Given the sheer number of bad WWII films, Inglourious Basterds is, comparatively, a below-average but not unwatchable film. Long-time Tarantino fans are going to find the same old tricks. The heart of the film has Brad Pitt as an American Indian (Aldo Raine) lead a commando squad to kill Nazis. That's it. Presumably, the real film is in the sub-plot about an escaped Jewish girl who also plans to exact revenge against a sadistic Nazi hunter played by Christopher Waltz. She plans to trap the Nazi elite in her movie theater and light them on fire. Get it? A victim of the Holocaust committs a holocaust. The film is just too silly to be morally offensive. But is it fun?? Yes and no. Hitler drops by and is killed by machine-gun fire. The problem is Tarantino just doesn't know when to hold back. Fellow Jewish director plays a Jew called "the Bear" who takes delight in butchering Nazis with an axe. This is supposed to be ironic or politically incorrect but it just comes off as excessive.
In some scenes, this - to give Tarantino - does work as when Waltz as Hans Landa kills a woman after he has succeeded in capturing Aldo! Spectacle has its place but even Tarantino at his best can't top Brian DePalma. The simple problem is Tarantino has used this material before repeatedly in the Kill Bill series and the woefully underappreciated Jackie Brown. Another problem is that the tone and imagery never cohere. This is a very beautiful-looking film, sometimes scary in its accuracy. But is it supposed to transport us back to the WWII era or are we supposed to come in seeing it as a post-modern exercise?? I can't say. It's enjoyable. But given the sheer talent involved, the founder of torture porn and director of Pulp Fiction, one expects more than lame double-entendres in thick German accents.
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