Director: Quentin TarantinoCast: Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Christoph Waltz, Diane Kruger, Melanie Laurent
Genre: Action/War drama
Rating: Adult (language, graphic violence, brief sexuality)
Comment: "Unmistakably Tarantino, although not a masterpiece it sought to be..."
Any movie with Brad Pitt and Quentin Tarantino attached to it, you know you're in for a testosterone-fuelled thrill ride. While this movie deserves credit and entertaining in it's own right, it also suffers from overexposure and perhaps also over-hyped to the extent audiences might feel cheated upon leaving the cinema.
The movie revolves around fictional events taking place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. A group of Jewish-Americans, known as 'The Basterds" led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Their mission? To brutally kill and scalp Nazis.
Needless to say this movie has no basis in reality whatsoever, and solely for entertainment. But while it may be greater in scale (and budget), Basterds struggled to even barely surpass Tarantino's other classics such as Reservoir Dogs [1992] and is not even remotely as entertaining as his best work to date, Pulp Fiction [1994]. Now you might say that it is unfair to compare one movie to another, and it's true. But for argument's sake, this movie was touted even by Tarantino himself to be his masterpiece. FPBM! for one, would like to disagree.
What this movie lack is really the "engagement factor". Now, it may look like a war epic, but it is not. You can find more shooting and explosions in a single episode of Band of Brothers than in this entire movie. But that is not really the issue. If you are familiar with the works of Tarantino, you cannot help but not only watch the movie, but become part of it as well. For some strange reason, you will be able to appreciate the aesthetics of the movie in true Tarantino fashion, but you will also feel excluded from the ongoings.
What can be surmised here is that, Tarantino possibly fell in love a bit too much with Basterds, and lost a little bit of his touch. Perhaps he sought to impress the audience more than he would like to impress himself.
Better luck next time, Tarantino. While Basterds is a great piece of work and enjoyable in it's own right, it is hardly a masterpiece.
Points Calculation
The Good [+100]
- Machismo
- Fast paced
- Cinematography
The Bad [-30]
- Unengaging
100 - 30 = 70 points
The movie revolves around fictional events taking place in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. A group of Jewish-Americans, known as 'The Basterds" led by Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Their mission? To brutally kill and scalp Nazis.
Needless to say this movie has no basis in reality whatsoever, and solely for entertainment. But while it may be greater in scale (and budget), Basterds struggled to even barely surpass Tarantino's other classics such as Reservoir Dogs [1992] and is not even remotely as entertaining as his best work to date, Pulp Fiction [1994]. Now you might say that it is unfair to compare one movie to another, and it's true. But for argument's sake, this movie was touted even by Tarantino himself to be his masterpiece. FPBM! for one, would like to disagree.
What this movie lack is really the "engagement factor". Now, it may look like a war epic, but it is not. You can find more shooting and explosions in a single episode of Band of Brothers than in this entire movie. But that is not really the issue. If you are familiar with the works of Tarantino, you cannot help but not only watch the movie, but become part of it as well. For some strange reason, you will be able to appreciate the aesthetics of the movie in true Tarantino fashion, but you will also feel excluded from the ongoings.
What can be surmised here is that, Tarantino possibly fell in love a bit too much with Basterds, and lost a little bit of his touch. Perhaps he sought to impress the audience more than he would like to impress himself.
Better luck next time, Tarantino. While Basterds is a great piece of work and enjoyable in it's own right, it is hardly a masterpiece.
Points Calculation
The Good [+100]
- Machismo
- Fast paced
- Cinematography
The Bad [-30]
- Unengaging
100 - 30 = 70 points
