Jason Lydon: Web Designer, Web Developer, Graphic Designer, Video Producer and Digital Maestro

It is gory, it is a Taratino Spaghetti Western, QT does love words and can let the conversations go on a little too much, and he also creates great, memorable characters for you to cheer for or against. This movie is great, but it’s not perfect. It could easily lose an hour out of the middle and it didn’t play to it’s strengths. But it is still one of the better movies you will see, especially if you are a fan of Tarrantino’s films.

There is a whole story line in the movie that isn’t revealed in the commercials (I won’t reveal it either), which is nice. But the main story line while watching the film is will QT re-write history. Which one of the plans developing will win? But the story lines won’t actually surprise you or make you ponder afterwards. I found myself thinking about what QT was thinking about before writing the film. What would you do if you could create a super team to infiltrate Europe and kill Nazis, and how would you try to kill Hitler, if you could?

The strength of the movies were the Basterds themselves, and you’re left wanting more out of them than some of the other characters your forced to follow. And the Nazis are easy to hate, especially the Jew Hunter, but all you have to do is put a swastika on someone and the same perception is achieved. But the fun of the movie is in Brad Pitt’s team of comic book characters and their conversations and approach to life. Pitt’s character was great, but I think that the Jew Bear was my favorite with his favorite weapon the baseball bat and his hard Boston accent. His reaction to his first kill in the movie was surperb. It reminded my of a kid named Lou in my neighborhood as a kid that would commentate every sport we played and anything else he could in that fun, excited voice you’d expect of a WWE commentator.

More on the gore: to be honest, the movie wasn’t all that gory, it’s what you would expect out of Tarrantino. Or maybe because I grew up in the 80′s with Jason Vorhees, Michael Myers, and Freddy Kruger, I’m conditioned to not be disgusted with mass quantities of blood on the silver screen. Or maybe, you’re happy to see the goriest parts happen and therefore not a disgusted. The Basterds do have conversations while collecting scalps and blood spray is a regular occurance, and the 2 goriest scenes are pretty foul but celebrated by the viewer. One involved a detailed shot of someone getting machine gunned with a round of bullets in the face, and you love it! And the other involved someone getting a swasticka carved into their forhead, and you love it!

But I think the major hang-up for me is that QT’s style isn’t new and fresh as it once was. His music and direction are polished and, at least to me, repetitive. I’ve seen all of his movies, some of them multiple times, and that could be why I feel this way. I think he really came into his own and became comfortable in his style with Kill Bill 1&2, and there is no way of confusing his movies with anyone elses.

Bottom line: If any movie is worth the $10 admittance fee, this is. Just be prepared for a long movie. Maybe we can get a 90 minute version just about the Basterds on the DVD release?