Some Critical Critical Response for Tarantino's 'Inglourious Basterds' at Cannes

The early reviews are in for Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival about 12 hours ago. The responses run the gamut from "rather brilliant" (Empire) to an "colossal armour-plated turkey from Hell" (The Guardian). That's rare for Tarantino, whose critical reputation is usually very strong. As you might expect, the online community is more gung-ho about the film than the trades and newspapers. The Hollywood Reporter's Kirk Honeycutt said it was disappointing, the BBC says that while it's no Pulp Fiction, Basterds is nonetheless "a glorious, silly, blood-spattered return." That's kind of what it feels like to me, having read the leaked script, and watching the trailers. It doesn't feel like it's a classic but rather a slightly more commercial move than we're used to from QT with plent of blood. Having said that, though, if there's one consistent refrain in the negative reviews, it appears to be that Tarantino doesn't put enough action in the movie, and there's a tremendous amount of dialogue. He could always trim that up for a U.S. release (and given the studio affiliations, Universal would probably like it to be less talk and more rock), so that audiences don't even notice the difference. If that's the big issue, it shouldn't be tough to clear up. However, it is too late to go back and add more action, so it's still kind of a juggling match of what would need to stay based on the narrative. Here are some of the official Cannes reviews: "The film's two hours and 40 minutes long, and could be shorn of an hour just by picking up the tempo. But I wouldn't even call Inglourious Basterds minor Tarantino -- it's flat-out tiresome, and from a commercial perspective, incredibly dicey. If this is the pony the Weinstein Company has picked, well, bless 'em, because it's hard to see this one pulling in crowds once word gets around." IFC "Inglourious Basterds is great fun to watch, but the movie isn't entirely engaging. And it is defiantly an art film, not a calculatedly mainstream entertainment. Tarantino throws you out of the movie with titles, chapter headings, snatches of music. You don't jump into the world of the film in a participatory way; you watch it from a distance, appreciating the references and the masterful mise-en-scene. This is a film that will benefit from a second viewing. I can't wait to see it again." Variety "The film is by no means terrible -- its running time of two hours and 32 minutes races by -- but those things we think of as being Tarantino-esque, the long
 stretches of wickedly funny dialogue, the humor in the violence and outsized characters strutting across the screen, are largely missing." The Hollywood Reporter "Not only did I love every minute, if the French projectionist wanted to cue it up and roll it again from the start, I would have sat through the whole film again, with the biggest grin on my face. This is Quentin’s best film since Jackie Brown. It might even be his best film since Pulp Fiction. Total Film "Quentin Tarantino's cod-WW2 shlocker about a Jewish-American revenge squad intent on killing Nazis in German-occupied France is awful. It is achtung-achtung-ach-mein-Gott atrocious. It isn't funny; it isn't exciting; it isn't a realistic war movie, yet neither is it an entertaining genre spoof or a clever counterfactual wartime yarn. It isn't emotionally involving or deliciously ironic or a brilliant tissue of trash-pop references. Nothing like that. Brad Pitt gives the worst performance of his life, with a permanent smirk as if he's had the left side of his jaw injected with cement, and which he must uncomfortably maintain for long scenes on camera without dialogue." The Guardian

Comments

[Sean]

Wow Im so excited I must say... Im fucken pumped.

I think Quentin Tarantino is amazing brilliant director the man has his own unique style and flare to his films and hopefully this will be just a masterpiece (other than what the dam critics say)

So basically theres ups and down for his film, but I still have hope and am hoping for the best!

I dont mind alot of dialogue as long as it progresses the plot and develops characters, but screw action Ill take substance any day...!

[Sean]

Oh yeah forget to mention, HEY COLIN more news from Cannes would be greatly appreciated!

In the States its hard to keep up and I'd love more updates from the famed film festival