Inglourious Basterds

Sometimes a long running time is good if the writer/director makes good use of the time, but in the end, for me, "Inglourious Basterds" ran far longer than needed, and short-shrifted the viewers with pertinent backstories of characters who turned into plot devices far too many times for my tastes.

The underlying thread for the plotline is that German-occupied France has seen horrific war atrocities from the Nazis towards the Jews, and a squad of Inglourious Basterds (mainly enlisted or recruited Jews) has been dispatched to turn the tables on the Nazis.  The IB are led by Aldo Raines (Brad Pitt), and they make their mark on the war efforts.  Unfortunately, their actual screen time is limited, or far too passive in certain chapters, which play out as a series of a game of Gotcha!

Quentin Tarantino still needs an editor who will chop out so much lengthy dialogue that meanders, yeah, sure, there's a point in it all, but rarely a large enough point to make it worth its running time.  And yes, that's QT's cinematic signature, but eventually he'll figure out that less is more at times.  With the chapter vignettes outlining the film, the film just starts and stops and looses narrative drive on many occasions.

Easily, this is a 2-hour film given its plotline and focus, but it runs a good 30 minutes too long.  Plus Quentin so loves his musical choices, it gets repetitive in how he'll build to a climax of a scene and employs unsubtle musical cues to get there.  The build-up of tension in the first chapter was solid (though the scene just would never end, it seemed), but then it sort of gets away from QT in subsequent chapters.  By the time the film gets to its final chapter, it simmers to underwhelming boiling effect for its conclusion (it's almost Mel Brooks-esque in comedic undertones).

That being said, I enjoyed staring at Melanie Laurent (Shoshanna), and Christoph Waltz's Landa is sure to pick up a Best Supporting Actor nomination (as he looked like he had a lot of fun with his game of Gotcha!).  Brad Pitt's character was somewhat under-utilized, but Pitt mined almost every line of dialogue for solid dramatic or comedic effect.  The rest of the supporting cast was hit-or-miss for me, some stood out in a good way, while others did not.

Overall, I think I liked about 75%-80%, so I give it 2.75 stars, or a grade of B-.