"Inglorious Bastards" Review

Movie: "Inglorious Bastards"
Director: Quinten Tarantino
Writer: Quinten Tarantino
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sQhTVz5IjQ

Let me preface what I am about to say with one statement: "I love Quinten Tarantino." From the series of "Grindhouse" films to "Pulp Fiction," he hasn't really ever made a motion picture that I didn't enjoy. He is a master of cinematography, and has a unique touch that he puts on each of his films. This touch usually involves graphic violence and scattered plot lines, two things that he has been able to make work for him in the past in places where other directors and writers would have completely turned the audience off.
In "Inglorious Bastards," he did just that. The normal Tanantino crosses of the line were extended to the point where one was forced to cringe, or in the case of my lovely girlfriend, turn a sickly color of green. In past Hollywood recreations of graphic violence, including Tarantino's own works, there is the tendency to take the viewer to the edge of their seat with the promise of violence before returning them with a sigh when the camera cuts away.
Mr. Tarantino had no such aspiration as he led the audience through a man being nearly beheaded with a wooden baseball bat, heavy sub-machine gun fire to a face at close range, and several other excessively graphic nuances that were not necessary.
Aside from the overbearing violence, I wish I could claim that this movie was a success. However, the slow plodding and often times inconsequential plot sequencing was a travesty. In past films like "Pulp Fiction" there were many points in time where the viewer would wonder to himself: "What exactly is going on?" Eventually the viewer would be rewarded with Mr. Tarantino's clever puzzle building and underscored themes buried in advanced plot lines. In "The Bastards," there was no such undercurrent of cleverness.
The plot started, and then never really went anywhere as it progressed over the next few hours, darting between poorly subtitled French, English, or German, with many words going untranslated and appearing in the subtext untranslated and in their native tongue. It was a minor distraction, but one that proved to be another flaw in a picture that couldn't afford extra mistakes.
The one shining bright spot throughout the film was exceptional acting performance by several members of the cast.
Brad Pitt, all though vacant from the screen for a surprising majority of the film he was allegedly starring in, gave an incredible performance as Lt. Aldo Raine. Playing the Tennessee native, Pitt embodied a good time, back country Nazi killing machine. The dialogue for the character was witty and kept the entire theatre laughing throughout the performance. The greatest down fall of this picture was the lack of this character throughout most of the plot. For large segments of time the picture would focus on other (less significant) characters before flashing back to show Lt. Raine and the Bastards mowing down Nazi's for thirty seconds before the audience would be returned to slow moving plot line and horrid dialogue.
German actor Christoph Waltz, who starred as Col. Hans Landa, gave a superb performance as well. He was the shining spot through most of the drab sub-plots that plagued this movie as he made the audience hate him and the Nazi Party. He was a great antagonist, and I am still hating him as I sit here and compose this review. That was his goal, however, so kudos to Mr. Waltz.
Throughout the movie there was a central focus on the love-hate relationship of a German war hero (Private Fredrick Zoller played by Daniel Bruhl) and a Jewish cinema owner who's family was mowed down while in hiding at the beginning of the movie (Shosanna Dreyfus played by Melanie Laurent). This was central to the plot, which was not the intention I got from the trailer I viewed before shelling out $16 to see this glorified work of trash.
The movie plodded through meaningless dialogue only to erupt in violence before returning to the meaningless dialogue. It caught the viewer in an endless cycle of wanting more or wanting less, and it really never hit a good stride that worked for the both the picture and the audience.
I would not recommend watching the film all though I did my best to not give away the meandering and meaningless plot, but I will inform you that Tarantino goes so far with his sensationalism to have Adolf Hitler, played by Martin Wuttke, gunned down via submachine gun at a film premier a la John Dillinger.
This movie was terrible, not worth the money, but still had the potential to be incredibly humorous and well put together. The blame falls severely on writer and director Quinten Tarantino. A movie entitled "Inglorious Bastards" should focus on that group, not some sickly looking German soldier and a Jewish girl with a displeasing face. I was hoping for something along the lines of Saving Private Ryan with a Tarantino spin, but I was very off the mark.
I would not advise you to see this. If you already have, I apologize. Go hook up two televisions and watch "Pulp Fiction" alongside the first "Grindhouse" film. It may restore your faith in Mr. Tarantino. That's my plan.