I'm going to do my best not to ruin any spoilers of this film, but to be safe - if you haven't seen it, tread lightly.
I was a big fan of Tarantino growing up. He was hip, cool, and so by extension, I was cool for liking his films. There was a time when I could quote Pulp Fiction from beginning to end. And why not? It's a wonderfully quotable film. Most of Tarantino's films are. The man writes good dialogue for strong, unique characters.
So then what's my problem with this film? It's a bit indulgent. It does it with flair, sure. But. The. Scenes. Take. Forever. To. Get. To. The. Point. Is it rewarding when it gets there? Yes. Often! But does it ever take time to get there. Pitt is quite good in the film, but it's stolen completely by Mélanie Laurent. In fact she was the shining, expected soul of this film. The rest is pure indulgence. We never get a sense of purpose, of justice. Sure we all know Nazi's are bad. But I want to know the personal connections to the characters. Why it matters. Tarantino doesn't seem interested in that. It's way cooler to give a guy a rope burn on the neck and never explain it. Like it doesn't matter. Like he doesn't need a motivation or an arch.
So I guess, in the end, I'm fine with not being a cool filmmaker.
