Inglourious Basterds

Tarantino’s latest. I have to say I wasn’t expecting much. The Kill Bill films were a mess, schlocky and cheesy tributes to forms of cinema in a way that inherently could not have their charm. Tarantino’s niche, I felt, was in stylised gangster films with snappy, naturalistic dialogue. That’s what I wanted him to return to. So when I read that Inglourious Basterds, with its daft title, was about ass-whoopin’, Nazi-killin’ yanks in occupation-era France hatching a plot to blow up Hitler in a way that seemed a parody of Valkyrie while foiling an evil SS officer called The Jew Hunter, I only expected crap.

Surprising, then, that this was a very good film. It was exaggerated, yes, but at least paying tribute to spaghetti westerns fitted the story and is still pretty cool in the current zeitgeist. True, some decisions were questionable – we really didn’t need scratchy arrows pointing out who certain characters were onscreen, Samuel L Jackson’s voiceovers were distracting and were there only for his gravitas, not because his voice fitted, and only by the skin of his teeth did Mike Myers’ cameo stay the right side of farce, which doesn’t sit well beside genuinely harrowing films.

But at the same time, there is so much to like here. ‘Chapter 1’ is simply an incredibly moving piece of film, the painful sight of a cat toying with its prey, and throughout, Christopher Waltz gives a superb performance, equally chilling and charming, acting excellently in four languages – he ought to be the breakout star here. Brad Pitt does a great turn as a meathead from Tennessee, and the humour he provides is exactly right for the film.

Not everything is so perfect, though. Giving the plot some thought, you come to realise that the Basterds were totally unnecessary to the assassination plot’s final outcome, and indeed made it worse, giving Landa a chance to enact a plan that he would not have been able to put into action had the Jewish girl acted alone. Still, Tarantino delivers some extremely powerful scenes, incredible performances and, for enthusiasts, a hilarious pastiche of Third Reich cinema with his film-within-a-film. Much to like here.