It probably seems odd to call a film that rewrites the death of one of history's most notorious villains "traditional" but Inglorious Basterds definitely feels like Tarantino's safest film to date. Or if you prefer, his most polished. After the commercial failure of Grindhouse, Tarantino strips away the flamboyant embellishments he started to incorporate with Kill Bill and Death Proof in favor of a more refined focus on storytelling and a more traditional presentation. Even trademarks like his vibrant soundtracks and scrambled plot structure are left by the wayside so that nothing can detract from the power of the film itself. Even when implementing the chapter segmentation of the story, Basterds still doesn't have the episodic feeling that Kill Bill does. Instead, each scene is so vividly detailed with such long, continuous takes of dialogue that it feels less like a television show and more like a novel. Especially with all of the reading that comes with the extensive scenes of subtitles. Tarantino is showing us that he's more than just a genre filmmaker, he still has the capacity for Oscar worthy material.
And there's nothing more Oscar worthy within Inglorious Basterds than the breakout performance from it's scene stealing star, Christoph Waltz (who did of course win an Oscar for his performance). All anyone could talk about leading up to the film was Brad Pitt but from the second we meet Christoph in the opening interrogation scene, it's clear that this is his film. Tarantino has crafted some incredible characters over the years but hands down, Col. Hans Landa is the best villain he's ever written. And Waltz plays him with devilish glee. He's as merciless as he is cunning which somehow makes him all the more threatening. He knows how to get what he wants from you and takes a sick pleasure in forcing you to give it to him. His sadistic intellect and slimy disposition to talk his way out of any situation make him the most fascinating piece of Basterds and help amplify some of the film's most tense moments to unthinkable levels.
Which is what Basterds is mostly composed of. A series of incredibly tense moments. While the film is set during World War II it seems odd to refer to it as a "war film" per se. There are no gruesome battle scenes or patriotic symbols of hope. No, Inglorious Basterds is more of an espionage thriller that happens to feature Adolph Hitler. The film cascades anticipation with each confrontation our undercover heroes encounter, until the potential killing of Hitler himself sets the stakes for it's phenomenal finale. But the slow build of anticipation does make for a diminished repeat viewing, especially with the toned down flare of Tarantino's earlier work. It's expertly crafted but just feels a little dry in the grand scheme of Quentin's full body of work. The opening interrogation scene and the basement shootout are some of Tarantino's most skillfully composed sequences but overall, the film seems to lack forward momentum due to it's slow build and reserved tone.
Even though our scalp collecting Jewish American soldiers are the title characters of the film, the heart and soul lie within Shosanna's revenge. Shosanna's journey is one of passion; to avenge her slain family and to get the relentless Zoller to fuck off and die already. She's fighting for her independence from the oppressive advances of Zoller and his country's as well. Meanwhile the Basterds, like Tarantino himself, can only do so much on their own as a rogue entity bashing in Nazi skulls as a rag tag group of misfits. Brute violence certainly leaves an impression but it doesn't necessarily win the war. It isn't until the Basterds run across an undercover German film star that helps them infiltrate the Nazi propaganda film premiere that they finally do real permanent damage to the German army. It's when the Basterds and Shosanna's plots align that they can do the most damage. The passion of Shosanna with the muscle of the Bear Jew. And the same goes for Tarantino - he's at his most dangerous when he's got the over the top violence and romanticized storytelling hand in hand.
All in all, Inglorious Basterds is the perfect bounce back vehicle for Tarantino. It helped him to hone in on his abilities while re-affirming his place as one of the best filmmakers working today. It's certainly his most reserved movie but it brings an almost Kubrick level of attention to detail and classical framing that seemed to drift away in his last couple of outings. It brought him back into the Oscar conversation and restored faith among his fan base that Quentin still had something left in the tank. It's a tremendous film but still doesn't quite have that same unmistakable personality branded across it that Tarantino's earlier work does, which is why I still hold it on the lower end of the Tarantino spectrum. It feels like he's playing on Hollywood's terms rather than his own. A bit of an over correction from the over the top style of Grindhouse, but still an astounding achievement none the less.
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