INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS REVIEW

Folks, I am here to let all Tarantino fans know that he is back! His latest creation, Inglourious Basterds, is a fine blend of all the quirky dialogue and bloody storylines we expect from him. The plot is divided into 5 entertaining chapters summarized below:

CHAPTER 1: [1941 France] Introduces Shosanna, a young Jewish girl, and Landa - the “Jew Hunter”, a soldier with the SS sent to France to track and find hiding Jews for the Nazis.

CHAPTER 2: Introduction of the “Basterds”, a rouge group of Jewish-Americans that are trained to kill and scalp Nazis.

CHAPTER 3: [1944 Paris] An older Shosanna is reintroduced as a cinema owner that has caught the eye of the newest German Movie Star, former war-hero Zoller. This chapter sets up Shosanna’s plan for revenge.

CHAPTER 4: Sets up the “Basterds” plans for the Nazi movie premiere at Shosanna’s theatre.

CHAPTER 5: Shosanna’s plan and the “Basterds” plans intersect; Chaos ensues….


Pros:

The Story Connections – one of my favorite things that Tarantino accomplishes in his movies are to take several seemingly unrelated storylines and blend them together. He never fails to amaze me how he connects the characters and the different plotlines, and this movie reminds me of Pulp Fiction in how he was able to merge all the characters into a cohesive story.

The Casting – I loved how they found the perfect casting for this film. The film had a few well-known actors (Brad Pitt, Mike Myers, Diane Kruger) but the majority was made up of European actors that most Americans have never heard of. And they all did a fantastic job. I give special props to 2 actors: Brad Pitt as Aldo was a hilarious turn as a Tennessee hick turned Nazi killer, and Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa was perfection, possibly an oscar-worthy performance [hey, it’s never too early to start the buzz].

The Languages – I absolutely loved how they used French and German dialogue and subtitles in many of the scenes to tell the story. This story takes place in Europe, so it lends an air of authenticity to the storylines.

The Tavern Shootout – this scene reminded me of a throwback to the ending of Reservoir Dogs, which needless to say it doesn’t end well.

The Ending Scene – I don’t want to give the ending of this movie away, but I did want to mention that I felt it wrapped up with a very satisfying ending…I left the theater wanting to watch it all over again!

Cons:

Historical Accuracy – I realize that this story of the “Basterds” is a fictional story in an alternate reality, but there were several key characters that did exist in real life; most notably Adolf Hitler. In this movie, Hitler is ambushed while attending a Nazi movie premiere…we know in reality he died at a later time by killing himself. I thought this was a bit distracting from the rest of the plot.

Overall, I highly recommend seeing this in the theater, that is, until you can buy it on DVD - it's totally worth it!

My Rating: 9/10