New French Trailer For Inglourious Basterds Is Far, Far Better Than The US Versions

[GreenScar]

The latest trailer for Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds is streets ahead of the two US edits. It’s faster, it’s funner, it’s flashier… but it’s still not really representative of the film. In fact, you might even consider it the greatest misrepresentation yet.

Don’t be worried that if you love this trailer - and I love this trailer - that you won’t like the full film. That’s ludicrous. That’s like saying you won’t like a Coke because it said Pepsi on the bottle. Enjoy this trailer for what it is, which is a look at the more zippy, snappy moments of the film cut together at something like ten times the pace of the actual movie, and then be prepared to love the full film for what it is when it comes along in a couple of months.

While much of the feeling found here has been created with the use of wipes and swooshy noises, there actually is a great deal new footage in the trailer too, setting it apart from the more prosaic domestic versions. I’m definitely curious as to why this material is being judged as attractive to the French, whereas US audiences are getting sold a different picture? The trailers I’ve seen in UK cinemas have been all but indistinguishable from the US ones, though I think this French trailer is actually much more in keeping with general British tastes and, specifically, what we think Tarantino can offer us. I wouldn’t be surprised if those if you in the US agree.

This pepped-up, silly-billy edit also makes a virtue of the crash zooms which, when not blended into a pedal-to-the-floor montage, stick in the craw a little more. I know why he’s used them but, by jiminy, I wish he hadn’t. Nauseating.

Even at home it seems that French actress Melanie Laurent is playing support to the more established stars in the marketing, and this is in the face of her integral importance to the story. I’ve said it before, but it bears repeating: the film is as much hers as it is Pitt’s, but the promo campaign seems to be somewhat shy of this star. Why?