Tarantino made a movie about Nazis and WWII. It has Brad Pitt–the pothead from True Romance–”Ryan the temp” from The Office, and Schweiber from Freaks and Geeks hunting Nazis. Revealing Schwieber quote via Freaks and Geeks “I’m Jewish. That’s no cakewalk either. Last year, I was elected school treasurer. I didn’t even run!”
More importantly, why did Tarantino embark down this particular beaten-like-a-dead-horse path? Because we need one more film on WWII and zee Nazis, especially after the two I haven’t seen in 2008? Why apply the trademark Tarantino vortex of verbosity and ultraviolence to an already overwrought and violent genre? Judging from the trailer alone, I think QT has remaked ripped-off Aldrich’s The Dirty Dozen with a dash of Kelly’s Heroes. That’s not to say QT is the Shepard Fairey of film. Even at his least Tarantino is no hack.
True Romance, From Dusk Till Dawn, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Kill Bill and Deathproof were hailed as pumping new life into and redefining their respective genres: Drama, subgenre: romance; Horror, subgenre: creature feature; Crime/Gangster, subgenre: heist/cop; Action, subgenre: kung fu and western; Grindhouse, subgenre: psycho-killer and car chase. Even the widely panned Jackie Brown was still seen as an ultimately failed yet bold reimagining of the crime drama. Perhaps QT has bought into the hype of his own legacy: tarantinorizing every movie genre. Like any good theory, mine should have predictive power. Some movie title suggestions for genres QT will at some point in the future redefine:
Science Fiction: Multiverse Wars
Documentary/Biopic: Lucifer: The Blackest Sheep
Comedy: Rainy Season for Pol Pot
Musical: Tinnitus the Musical
War: Inglorious Basterds
Behold, Inglorious Basterds!