Review of Inglourious Basterds (2009) by Raji K — 04 Feb 2017

Quinten Tarantino writes and directs his latest film Inglorious Bastards. The film sets place in the heart of World War II and opens with a Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) who is searching for Jews across Nazi occupied France. He is known as the Jew Hunter and he kills the family of a young Shosanna (Melanie Laurent). Many years later, Shosanna is the owner of a small cinema under a new name Emmanuelle. She is being courted by a young Nazi war hero who begs to have the premiere of his new movie at her small cinema.

As with most Tarantino there many arcs, and another arc involves Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). He leads a group of notorious Nazi killers known as the Inglorious Bastards. Each one of the bastards has a known identity and nickname for their methods such as Donny Donowitz who does so with a baseball bat. As a team, they go around Germany ruthlessly killing Germans in hope to spread the word of their infamy, and rouse fear in the Nazi's. When they discover the premiere of the new film premiere at the small cinema, the two plot points converge in a hope to kill all of the Nazis including Hitler himself at the event.

Inglorious Bastards is one of Tarantino's finest films. The film features larger than life characters, excellent performances, and typical Tarantino sense of drama and grandeur that only he can pull off. Waltz simply ties the film together and rightfully wins Best Oscar for a supporting role. Pitt does a good job balancing comedy and wit as the stubborn and grisly war hero. The film is long and has some slow scenes to help build up drama and intensity, but they work well and are fitting in this film and help advance the plot. Some of these scenes are really some of the best scenes in the film. These include the film's opener, and a scene where Emmanuelle is being slowly interrogated by Hans Landa as the two eat strudel and smoke cigarettes. Combined with Tarantino like explosive finish, Inglorious Bastards will likely entertain most Tarantino fans and movie goers alike.

-2.4.2017.