Watched Inglorious Basterds for the 3rd time and....

[techs]

It's a Taranteno flick. Everything in every one of his films is needlessly complex. All the dialogue, costumes, violence, acting, everything is clichéd and over the top. It's his signature!

Its like watching a Scorsese film and complaining that there are too many gangsters.

Agreed. In fact I would go so far as to classify this movie as pulp fiction.

 

[DangerAardvark]

My big issue with Inglourious Basterds was it's pacing. The story was good and entertaining but it just didn't flow well. You have vary brief action sequences featuring the Basterds peppered in with lengthy scenes of character development unrelated to them. The movie establishes everything you need to know in the first two acts and everything else just feels unnecessary after that point.

The movie focused heavily on Melenie Laurant's character but it never really explains the Basterds. The titular characters seem like more of an afterthought. I think this is why the OP thought the plot was complex. There really is a lot going on at once in this film.

The movie needed more time in the cutting room in opinion. Three scenes that particularly bother me are the first act at the farm house, Soshanna's meeting with Frederik and Goebbels, and the "basement" tavern. (the basement is really bugging me now. I would have cut that entirely) These scenes are way too long.
The whole movie is 2.5hrs long. It probably could have been cut to two or less by tightening up these scenes. Nothing would have been lost plot wise. It would of flowed better and made a much better movie in the end. I'm not sure what Tarantino was thinking. Maybe he was really proud of this stuff, but sometimes you have to kill your babies.

My thoughts exactly. Those scenes really drag and there's just too much "air" in this movie in general. I understand Tarantino's style, but neither the script nor performances (with one notable exception) were compelling enough to hold these scenes together, unlike in Pulp Fiction. The exception I referred to was the character of Hans Landa aka The Jew Hunter. He shines in every scene, even the overly long farm house scene.

My biggest complaint though, is how little we get to see of the Basterds themselves. In fact, the Basterds are perhaps the weakest part of the movie. I hated how he only intro'd maybe 2 or 3 of them and the rest were basically extras. Eli Roth's accent was horrendous beyond the point of comedy. Brad Pitt was Brad Pitt. He played the only character he knows how to play: a one-dimensional alpha male who can simultaneously beat you up and fuck your girlfriend. Except this time he had a funny accent. It's not that he was bad, just... typical.

 

[DangerAardvark]

I thought the movie was brilliant, but even most critics didn't understand the plot. He was more subtle than usual perhaps, but it had a lot of themes, of animals, revenge, inversions...
Some really good explanations, though I'm sure many would disagree with:
http://www.pandalous.com/topic/inglourious_basterds

That link points out another thing I noticed about the movie: it wants us to think that it's a more raucous and exuberant than than the pacing really allows it to be. There are points of raucous exuberance, but they're often sandwiched between plodding exposition.

 

[Riverhound777]

I really wanted to like this movie. I love the rest of his movies, but I was bored to tears with the Basterds. I know I would get it more if I watched it a couple more times, but I just can't bring myself to do it.

 

[Vonkhan]

I loved Inglorious Basterds, saw it twice in the theater and going to buy the DVD soon

The movie's classic QT ... long slow build-ups & character development to insane shoot outs that are over in seconds. Hitler is shown wearing a cloak and shot to bits ... and you worry if there was a more efficient way to kill him?

Ok, I'll humor you:

1. To blow up a building from the "outside" is pretty complicated. You'll need a ton of explosives as well as knowledge of the load bearing structures. Also, the chance of detection are higher. "Hey Hans, vat iz load of TNT doing here?"

2. Hitler and the Reich's upper echelon being there was a total game changer. The Basterds wanted to kill him w/o and leave no room for error.

3. Perimeter security was higher than inner circle security. Think of the theater as a green-zone.

4. The Basterds had limited resources, mainly light arms and small quantities of explosives. They didn't have the heavy firepower to take out Hitler from range.

 

[TallBill]

The movie needed more time in the cutting room in opinion. Three scenes that particularly bother me are the first act at the farm house, Soshanna's meeting with Frederik and Goebbels, and the "basement" tavern. (the basement is really bugging me now. I would have cut that entirely) These scenes are way too long.

Oh my god, those were possibly the three best scenes in the movie.

Yeah, his Italian was humorously bad. I love his line at the end in response to Landa's "you'll be shot" "Nah, I don't think so. I'll probably be chewed out. I've been chewed out before."

I cracked up laughing when he said that shit


As a side note, Col Landa is probably my favorite character that I've seen in any movie recently. The long drawn out conversations that he has when both parties know that he has the upper hand are just amazing.


Also, I'm glad that I didn't see any of the trailers for it or know anything about it before viewing.

 

[waggy]

i thought it was a great movie. not amazing but damn good. the basement scene did drag on just a little long but it was good.

i would have liked to see more about the bastards. And the the movie within the movie was kinda funny.

 

[TallBill]

i thought it was a great movie. not amazing but damn good. the basement scene did drag on just a little long but it was good.

As soon as you see the Gestapo Major come out in his black uniform you know that shit is hitting the fan. I wasn't expecting what happened, but holy crap. I can't wait to re-watch that scene.

 

[Alone]

It was complex because killing Hitler is a complex issue. If you disregard the importance of the issue, then you're really losing the whole point.

In better words, movies could generally be reduced to 15 minutes if the characters took the obvious approach, but where's the entertainment in that?

 

[CRXican]

Nothing dragged for me. I enjoy the long dialogues, builds a lot of suspense.

I bought the DVD last week but have yet to watch it. Have to be in the right mood.

 

[KeithTalent]

The movie needed more time in the cutting room in opinion. Three scenes that particularly bother me are the first act at the farm house, Soshanna's meeting with Frederik and Goebbels, and the "basement" tavern. (the basement is really bugging me now. I would have cut that entirely) These scenes are way too long.
The whole movie is 2.5hrs long. It probably could have been cut to two or less by tightening up these scenes. Nothing would have been lost plot wise. It would of flowed better and made a much better movie in the end. I'm not sure what Tarantino was thinking. Maybe he was really proud of this stuff, but sometimes you have to kill your babies.

Yikes, you just mentioned two of my favourite scenes from the movie, in fact two of my favourite scenes from any movie last in the past year or so.

I had no problem with the pacing and have seen it 3 times in full so far and have actually re-watched a few of the scenes more than that, including the 1st and 3rd scene you mentioned.

Different strokes I guess.

KT

 

[PottedMeat]

I thought the movie was great - one question though - was Hugo Stiglitz a psychopath with a thing for killing SS officers? I mean he's already shot the Major's balls off, then he gets up and starts stabbing the shit out of the guy's head, all while surrounded by enemy soldiers.

I think there was a chance more than just von Hammersmark could have survived if he had started shooting them instead.

MOAR PUNCHGUN!

 

[DVad3r]

The movie was not complex at all, in fact, I thought it was really really dumbed down and slow paced to make sure even the dumbest of people would understand what is going on.

I didn't like the film, but I did like Hanz the Jew Hunter, he was cool I also enjoyed the basement scene when the Gestapo major came out from the back and was there all along listening. Worst Tarantino film yet.

 

[Bulk Beef]

After listening to a Tarantino interview on NPR, I'm going to have to watch it again. Maybe it'll grow on me.

 

[DangerAardvark]

After listening to a Tarantino interview on NPR, I'm going to have to watch it again. Maybe it'll grow on me.

I hope they come out with a commentary track for it soon. Tarentino always does a good commentary.

 

[pontifex]

Just finished it. Definitely not what I was expecting. Too little screen time for the Inglorious Basterds for making them the title of the movie.

 

[GTaudiophile]

Best movie of the year!

 

[waggy]

As soon as you see the Gestapo Major come out in his black uniform you know that shit is hitting the fan. I wasn't expecting what happened, but holy crap. I can't wait to re-watch that scene.

hahah yeah when he yells from the other room im like WTF. then he walks out and i just knew it was going to get good.


"what you don't know is have had my gun pointed at your balls since you sat down" or something like that made me laugh.

 

[angry hampster]

OP, what ever you do, don't watch Pulp Fiction. IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

 

[slackerinabox]

OP, what ever you do, don't watch Pulp Fiction. IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

Pulp Fiction's one of my favorite movies... I guess I think that I.B. was great to watch once, but it's not very re-watchable, because not much is revealed on multiple viewings (I watched it multiple times mostly to introduce other family members to it, not really because I craved a rewatching). The first time I watched it the element of surprise and discovery really made it worth watching, the 2nd and 3rd time I kept on wanting more Basterds and less French Jewish chick and her pretentious revenge scheme. I'm not calling the movie bad at all, by the way, and some of the performances were A+++ (which made the bad performances, I.E. the bear jew Hostel Director, stand out even more on subsequent viewings)

 

[Oceandevi]

I expected more scalpin and less yappin and chapter changin.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I just watched this film for the second time last night and loved it, more than on first viewing. I would raise my review from 4/5 stars to 4.5/5. Christoph Waltz, in particular, is just brilliant, but there are a ton of stellar performances by actors who were previously largely unknown in the US (including the French farmer in the opening scene and the British spy). I could still do without some of the goofy Tarantino-isms (e.g., casting Eli Roth, who was awful, and Michael Myers, who was pointlessly distracting and goofy), but that eclecticism is how he does things, and when the result is this impressive, I'm prepared to cut him some slack.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I saw it 3 times in the theater and plan on owning it. I loved it. If Christoph Waltz doesn't get the Oscar, I will become a "Basterd" myself and go hunting down Academy members.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

I saw it 3 times in the theater and plan on owning it. I loved it. If Christoph Waltz doesn't get the Oscar, I will become a "Basterd" myself and go hunting down Academy members.

Adam Carolla did a great interview with Waltz on his podcast and told him that if he doesn't win Best Supporting Actor he should go to Alan Arkin's house and demand the Oscar Arkin won for his tiny role in the just-OK Little Miss Sunshine.

 

[crab]