Inglorious Basterds Review

20th August 2009

Since 1998’s Jackie Brown Quentin Tarantino has been talking about his plans for an epic World War 2 men on a mission film along the lines of The Dirty Dozen and Where Eagles Dare. Finally after 11 years of writing he has delivered his war epic Inglorious Basterds which gets it’s title from the brilliant Enzo G Castellari 1977 war film Inglorious Bastards.

The film however is not quite the men on a mission flick you will be expecting from the trailers. The Brad Pitt led Basterds actually only get about 50% of screen time, they are in fact part of an ensemble. We also follow a young jewish girl, Shosanna who has lost her family at the hands of SS colonel Hans Landa, nicknamed ‘The Jew Hunter’, Shosanna could easily be considered the true lead in the film and this is no bad thing. There’s no doubt the film leaves you wanting to see that Dirty Dozen type film involving Tarantino’s Basterds but that isn’t the story Tarantino is telling here, instead he gives us something much more than an action-adventure film, it is a character study, a drama, and a mainstream art film unlike anything you’ve seen before.

Since the announcement last year that Tarantino would be aiming to complete Basterds in time for Cannes I was admittedly concerned that maybe he was rushing it just to have it screened at a festival rather than to make a quality film. I am pleased to say I was very wrong. The film never feels rushed and I walked out of the cinema wanting to turn around and go straight back in for a second viewing. I was shocked that the film received such a mixed reaction at Cannes back in May, this film is an absolute masterpiece, Tarantino’s writing and directing on this film is as close to perfect as it can be, its only weakness being that it may be too good, leaving you wanting more despite its 150 minute run time.

The performances by every actor are, as usual for a Tarantino film, pretty much flawless, even Hostel director Eli Roth who was criticised for taking such a large role in the movie delivers a fun performance and is surprisingly good for someone who has previously only had a couple of small roles in his own films. Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa is the stand out performance here as the first chapter of the film clearly displays. This chapter titled ‘Once Upon a time… In Nazi Occupied France’ is a work of art, the performances in this scene are stunning and the dialogue is some of the best you will ever hear, it may well be remembered as Tarantino’s finest moment. It’s also worth noting that Waltz received the award for best actor at this years Cannes Film Festival. I could go on all day about the other performances like Brad Pitt’s brilliant larger than life portrayal of Lt. Aldo Raine and Melanie Laurent’s touching performance as Shosanna Dreyfuss however there’s so many strong characters here and so many great performances that it would be impossible to give praise to them all.

I recommend that audiences go into this film without the expectation of this being a Brad Pitt action film as the trailers suggest, instead go in without any expectations because I guarantee Tarantino will pull the rug out from under you. Get to your nearest cinema, sit back and watch Tarantino’s masterpiece unfold. This may be Tarantino’s greatest piece of work to date and currently for me this rates not only as the best film I’ve seen this year but as one of my top films of all time. Currently I’ve only seen the movie once but can say for certain I’ll be seeing it many more times before it leaves cinemas, and believe me, this is a movie made to be seen on the big screen.

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