Review: Inglourious Basterds
I just saw a screening of Quentin Tarantino's new film, Inglourious Basterds, Friday night. I'm not covering the film for my usual outlets, but after what I saw, I couldn't resist the urge to put my two cents in. I know this is a pretty bold statement, but rarely have I ever been as satisfied with a film as I was with this one. That is not to say there aren't any issues, but I left feeling like I had a giant bowl of cheese and noodles. Not the fanciest dish on the menu, but more satisfying than a little salad or an over-sweet desert. (This will teach me to review on an empty stomach.)
The film is quintessential Quentin, with kick ass women, titles flashing across the screen, and multiple story lines that resolve into one. And violence. Brutal, unapologetic violence. Anyone who's read my reviews knows that this is certainly no issue for me. My unpopular philosophy is that not everything needs to be child-friendly. But that's an issue for another time. My point here is that you should know what you're going to see. No matter what praise I heap upon this film, heads are bashed in with baseball bats and people are brutally murdered. If that's not your thing, don't send me hate mail. You were warned.
Inglourious Basterds (Tarantino won't reveal why the title is misspelled) takes place in WWII, in Nazi-occupied France. A young Jewish girl, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) is the only survivor when Nazi Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) shoots her entire family in their hiding place under the floor boards of a neighbor's house. She changes her identity and flees to Paris where she becomes the owner of a cinema. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) forms a group of Jewish soldiers who's sole purpose is to strike fear into the hearts of Nazi soldiers by killing them in imaginatively brutal ways. Scalping is a particular favorite. They plan a meeting with German actress/secret agent Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) to carry out a plan to take down the entire Third Reich in one fell swoop...in a cinema. In Paris. Where someone else is planning revenge of her own.
The dialogue is continually compelling. Quite a feat for a film with half the dialogue in French or German subtitles. And the cast is strong across the board. Brad Pitt, horror writer/director Eli Roth, Samm Levine from Freaks and Geeks (being a geek myself, I can't help but bring that one up), narration by Samuel L. Jackson and a cameo from Mike Myers. And an international cast that includes compelling performances from Laurent, Kruger and Waltz, who is so charmingly slimy as Colonel Landa that you can't help but admire his cleverness while wanting to shoot him in the head. Pitt's performance as Aldo Raine is so funny, you wonder why the man never went into stand up. Oh, right. He's incredibly hot. Sorry. Truly, there wasn't a weak link among them. Particularly notable was Laurent, who continues the tradition of kick ass chicks in Tarantino films. I don't believe she spoke a word of English and yet her work was one of the best performances I've seen this year.
Inglourious Basterds is presented in chapters. And each one takes you on a different emotional ride. Really different. The film opens with one of the most deliciously tension-filled scenes in recent memory, with Colonel Landa slowly questioning a French dairy farmer about whether or not he has knowledge of Jews hiding in the area. I found myself dragged into the story, wrapped up in the tragedy of it...and yanked right back out by Pitt's hysterical accent and dry delivery. And that, I believe, is why the film is so satisfying. The phrase "I laughed, I cried" couldn't be more accurate. It was a beautifully crafted emotional roller coaster which left me with no idea where I would end up. Tarantino takes you from a foreign film style to Kill Bill gallows humor, from film noir to slasher flick, and I enjoyed the journey.
A few little flies in the honey pot. Occasionally I found myself thinking that a few of the shots where a character's name is written across the screen with an arrow pointing them out could have been cut. The film is very long, and I probably shouldn't have had that giant bottle of water before I went in. A friend pointed out that the David Bowie song during one of the pivotal scenes may have been a bit too modern and out of place, though I've heard opinions on both sides of that argument. And there were a number of characters who seem to disappear without explanation. But whatever little flaws it has, if you are a fan of this style of film, you won't be any more surprised than I was to hear a chorus of "Wow" and "That was amazing" when the film is done. (You certainly won't be surprised by the number of times someone in your row trips over your feet on the way to the bathroom.) For a theater full of critics, there was an unusual amount of applause.
I'm aware that Tarantino's style is not for everyone. And the violence is definitely intense. But I haven't been more entertained by an action flick this year. And considering the number of explosion-filled robot movies, that's saying quite a bit.
9.5/10
Fun fact: Samm Levine, who plays PFC Gerold Hirschberg also plays the artist painting a mural of Hitler during the first scene in the Nazi war room. (uncredited)
Follow Jenna Busch on Twitter: www.twitter.com/jennabusch
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After five days in the theaters:
Domestic: $50,566,469 58.7%
+ Foreign: $35,574,607 41.3%
= Worldwide: $86,141,076
Production Budget: $70 million
Yep, Quentin's got a bonafied hit on his hands here.
Inglourious Basterds is without a doubt, one of the most beautifully composed films ever made. The camera swoops unpredictably around sets, subtlety emphasizing the tone of every confrontation. Every set is convincingly historically accurate, but complete control over color is maintained in every shot. Tarantino demonstrates a masterful command of every aspect of filmmaking; every sight and sound presented on his screen is calculated to make the viewer feel absolute exhilaration, absolute drama, and most impressively, absolute empathy with his characters.
Check out the rest of my review at:
http://cfi
I second the devotion.
If Pulp Fiction was Q's "Citizen Kane" (and it was) "Ingloriou
Ive been waiting on this film for almost two years, and I have to leave the country the day it comes out for a few weeks! Talk about bad luck. Anyways, nothing like killing nazis.
I was revolted by the previews and am in no hurry to subject myself to more.
Your feeling is why they cut so many of the Grimm's Fairy Tales, censored them, you might say. Didn't like the evil stepsisters to get their feet cut to fit the shoes. Didn't like gruesome deaths for the witches. However, as Bruno Bettleheim argued in Uses of Enchantment, the kids know you have to kill these evil people ruthlessly and not treat them compassionately. This is a fairy tale and works because it gets fairy tale right.
As with jokes, if we have too much feeling about the characters in the joke, we think we have been insensitive or pandering to violent or obscene impulses. This is an intellectual endeavor, just like fairy tales and good instructive jokes. It points the finger at reality and isn't supposed to be hamstrung by the rules of polite society.
I always wonder what it would look like to see a Tarantino film without mass quantities of pointless violence. Well, they would be a lot shorter, that's for sure.
Sam Jackson's narrating? Cool.
Oh man, i cant wait. Pulp Fiction is my all-time fave and Brad Pitt is my fave actor. QT and BP are a dream team. This movie looks unbelievable. I'll be there Aug 21.
I liked Pulp Fiction and Desparado but this movie looks kind of sick to me. The holocaust is one of the few things that I consider, I wouldn't use the term sacred but its more than just another historical event to me. And the idea of showing jews who murder Nazis by scalping them just seems gratuitously sick to me. Not to mention that I don't think Brad Pitt can act his way out of a paper bag. The only two roles I've seen him in where I wasn't laughing at what he considers acting were Cool World and Burn After Reading, in both cases he was playing an air head who looks great, i.e. himself.
I don't want to come across as an anti-semite, but there has been at least 20 genocides since 1941 (see: http://en.
The way I feel about it is this: what happend to the Jewish people during the rule of Hitler was deplorable and should NEVER be alowed to happen to any other group. However, the lesson we seemed to learn here in the USA is that we can't ever let someone prosecute those of the Jewish faith, other faiths and ethnic groups (darfur, rawanda, uiygers, etc) can fend for themselves. We as AMERICANS have let millions die since the genocide of the European Jews, all without blinking an eye, and here if someone makes a film showing the holocaust in a non Shindler's List way, americans are outraged!
DESPERADO was done by Robert Rodriguez, not Tarantino. It was somehow a sequel to EL MARIACHI.
I guess you haven't seen Snatch. One of my all time favorite movies. When Brad is not pretty he is great.
I have a "hit-and-miss" relationship with Tarrantino films, but the audacity of this premise has made me anticipate the movie more than I would have guessed. Which is surprising. I stayed away from Valkyrie for roughly the same reason, but I somehow trust QT to create more suspense in a period piece that can't possibly have the most emotionally fulfilling if not intellectually dishonest climax (being the death of Hitler) than I did Bryan Singer. Weird that.
VALKYRIE was a true story. Can't exactly rewrite major historical events simply to satisfy drama.
I am aware. I'm afraid you missed my point.
I've been burned by Tarantino before. All he does is slam together his favorite elements from all the '70s schlock he watched when everyone else was graduating high school.
Quentin Tarantino = Gratuitous unnecessary gory violence. His films always focus on this centrist theme, Violence, of course he first lays down the foundation to make the disgustingly violent scenes, "justifiable".
I refuse to give him the satisfaction of playing stupid mind games with his singular obsession of portraying humans in the most horrendous degrading situations, let him show these type of films to Charles Manson supporters, I am sure they would love them.
There's about 15 minutes worth of violence out of a 2.5 hour film. the rest is dialog, plot and scenery. Your fantasy that these film are for Manson supporters is degrading, insulting and condescending toward the millions of people who like Tarantino films across the globe. If you chose to stick with the soft romantic comedies and period pieces, that's your choice and you're welcome to it. But why do you feel the need to come to a blog about a film that is obviously not your taste just so you can insult the fans? Is your life really that empty?
If I hadn't read this review I would have avoided this movie like the plague, at least while it's in theaters (I tend to enjoy Tarantino films more on DVD where I can rewind to re-hear dialogue and pass over ultra violent scenes). But based on your useful and clear review Jenna, I will brave scalping, and baseball head bashing and see this in the theater. You make it sound so wonderfully delish. And thanks to Cobraxus for the title information. I'll pretend to be supersmart-filmgeek when I wow them over drinks this weekend!
there was already a B-movie called "Inglorious Bastards"(to answer you spellcheck question).
He also probably misspelled it just to slip it past the censors.
It looks to be a neat movie.
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