Inglorious Basterds

Oh boy! I was up in the air about how I felt with Tarantino taking on a war movie, let alone WWII. Its more than just a touchy subject, for me and I'm sure a lot of other people. I've watched movies that got negative press for showing certain things about the Holocaust that are less than ideal, an example is the movie "The Grey Zone" about Auschwitz, it shows some of the Jews as being opportunistic. They steal, they do what they need to help themselves survive and ignore others pain. I say buck up and get over it, its not being hard on the Jews, its showing how it was, and how people could only focus on their own survival. So when I saw that Tarantino, who is not very sensitive was taking this on it made me a little nervous.

Man was I wrong, not his best, a different sort of story for him. If "Pulp Fiction", and "Kill Bill Vol. I" were him on speed then "Inglorious Basterds" was him slowly sipping brandy in a pressure cooker. Its slow and methodical, I mean it was a script 10 years in the making, it reflects that. Scene after scene we watch knowing what all the other characters know, but they must keep up appearances and we just hope they can do what they need to do. Scene after scene of talking and sweating, I loved it. And talk about violent, not his bloodiest, but up there in his brutal imagery. I think it was very smart of him to never mention the camps, or the Holocaust at all, and it makes sense because he very easily, almost effortlessly chooses the history he want to follow and that which he wants to rewrite, which he does, boldly.

Brad Pitt was hilarious in it, as was Til Schweiger, Eli Roth, BJ Novak...all of them were funny as hell. Watching Pitt try and be Italian, I couldn't stop laughing. And Christoph Waltz as the uber-Nazi, awesome, creepy and evil as I think he could be. The story is simple, try and kill as many Nazis as you can, at all costs, just kill them, and man are they good at it. Tarantino was born to write this sort of dialogue, it ebbs and flows, and makes you laugh. The last 20 minutes I was ear to ear grinning, I wont say more than that about how it ends, but Tarantino took the rules and ripped them up, and all I can say is "Good job" I think just about anyone else who would try that would fail, and I saw this as a success.

Its shot like so many of his other movies, the credits are like "The Godfather," the men with machine guns filling up a Jeep with bullets like so many gangster films. I also want to mention Melanie Laurent, and Diane Kruger. As some of his movies turn into boys clubs (not all, but some) it was nice to see some more strong female characters who kick ass all over Nazi occupied France. There is all his usual flairs, used in moderation, and nicely placed quick flashbacks. Like I said, not his best, but certainly up there, and another great addition to the Tarantio-verse.

Everyone who can stomach a little blood should see this if they haven't already, it is an acquired taste for sure, but come on, expand your palette a little and taste some of what he's cooked up, even if you don't like it, you wont see anything else like it. 9/10 stars.

Director: Quintin Tarantino

Starring: Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christoph Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl...it keeps going, great ensemble cast.