The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

So, on a complete whim, Essner gets invited by Mason, one of his awesome Film class friends, to go see Inglorious Basterds. I was in the middle of purchasing a Birthday present for my mother months early and then renting a film with Spants, so we decided just to switch over and join them and watch that. And, of course, Essner sat in the stupid front row of the theater grr. But so it goes.

In any case, I thought I knew exactly what to expect from this film. I figured that I would see lots of pointless gore and that there would be many Nazis killed, and that there would be some humor, but it would mostly just be a sort of crazy mindless action thingy.

I was completely wrong.

Inglorious Basterds is all about dialog. Long, long bits of dialog, drawn out longer and longer for dramatic tension until you can’t even stand it anymore… and then there’s a gunfight that’s over in about 2 seconds. That’s basically what you SHOULD be expecting. I mean, there’s plenty of points of humor in these long, long bits of dialog, but it’s mostly a dramatic device.
Another thing you may not realize about this movie: Brad Pitt’s character is not really the main character. Even though he’s the one in all the previews, on the movie poster, and so on, it’s really a story much more about The Jew Hunter. (I forget his character’s actual name. I am so awful with names.) The movie is significantly more about his exploits in trying to further his own agenda than it is about Brad Pitt’s band of Americans kills Nazis. And those exploits are pretty awesome. They have an almost Death-Note-like quality, where it’s all kind of ridiculous mind games, but presented in a way that you’re constantly riveted, even though you know it’s a bit ridiculous.
Granted, there is still plenty of over-the-top violence. Nazis are scalped right in front of you, knives are stabbed into people… I had to look away from the screen many, many times throughout the course of the film. But that wasn’t the focus.

I’m really unsure what to say about this movie. On the one hand, the fact that the movie surprised me, and turned out to be more about things that I like than over the top gore and violence pleased me. On the other hand, I don’t understand why there wasn’t more with the Basterds, more humorous introductions of their characters, and more focus on them. I loved the crap out of Mr. Jew Hunter’s character, and I rooted for him. But at the same time, there are going to be plenty of people walking into that theater who aren’t going to want to accept him as the protagonist, and are just going to be left confused as to why the “main characters” have such a small role in the film. The people that the trailer would have brought in to see the film are more than likely going to hate the long, drawn out bits of dialog. The movie seems to fail at what it’s trying to be.

Still, I was very pleased with my decision to go see it. It’s one of those movies I never would have even considered viewing if my friends hadn’t dragged me along, and I left the theater surprised and entertained. I probably never need to see it again, but it was a good experience. If it interested you at all, and the fact that there is gallons upon gallons of dialog in the film doesn’t immediately turn you off, it should be at least worth a rent.