Inglourious Basterds

Inglourious indeed


So there's this kid, let's say maybe nine or ten, and he comes out of school one day all fired up with indignation after a history class on the Second World War. Now this kid is a bit of a comic book fan and he has a way with words (though he's not too good on spelling), so he sits down and he writes a story about what he would have done to Hitler if he had had the chance. Witness 'Inglourious Basterds'.
Any review of this film will say it's about a troop of American Jewish soldiers dropped into Nazi-occupied Europe to kill soldiers, and then scalp them. It's not. That's a high concept that explains one chapter (the movie is split into chapters), but it fails to take into account the other stories that ultimately interwine for the final sub-Aldrich bloodbath ('The Dirty Dozen' is an underused influence here). Each tale, however, is just as childish, something highlighted by a silly Mike Myers cameo. Entertaining, often, but about as mature as an easy single.
The Tarantino name being what it is, the film is jam-packed with talent. The German actors (Brühl, Waltz, Kruger) are excellent, while Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna is a stand-out. Pitt, Roth et al. do what they have to do as cardboard cut-outs (Pitt might make a great Popeye). There are some nicely staged scenes, impressive shots and, wow, isn't Tarantino clever to hold our enjoyment of killing Nazis up to us with onscreen Germans enjoying a film of Allies being killed. But let us be under no misapprehension, this is a cartoon. (I was initially going to qualify that with a 'for adults', but it's not, it is a long, live-action cartoon, period.) It passes the time, but so do 'Tom and Jerry' (possibly an alternative title?). If this is what the best of today's cinema can give us, I think I'll stick with the '40s.