Review: ‘Inglourious Basterds’

“We ain’t in the prisoner taking business. We‘re in the Nazi killing business. And cousin, business is a booming”

As soon as this line comes out of Brad Pitt’s mouth you sink into your chair and say “damn, this is going to be a great ride”. I told you guys when Brad Pitt was first cast in this film that Tarantino would make him a bigger badass than he has ever been before…and I was right.

Quentin Tarantino takes a WWII to an entirely different level that may or may not match what history has show us but   ‘Inglourious Basterds’ is still a triumph that begs to be seen more than once. After you watch this you are going to jump back in line to see the next showing, because this movie is that fun.

When I heard that he was going to be remaking ‘Inglorious Bastards’ my first thought was “How is this going to fit into the Tarantino body of work?”. This film can easily stand with ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Kill Bill’ and that isnt being overly generous with my feelings just because its a Tarantino film.

The movie is split into 5 chapters, the first chapter features Nazi officer Hans Landa, AKA “Jew Hunter” played by   Christoph Waltz. His main duty is to seek out and find homes that are hiding Jewish families and the opening scene is delves into one such endeavor. This scene, even though it features none of the “basterds”, is absolutely amazing and really sets the tone for the film. Almost entirely dialogue driven, Tarantino creates a slow mounting tension that is almost unbearable at times.

From there the movie delves into each additional chapter, the next which features all of the Basterds and how they became the merry band of Nazi hunters that they are. Led by the twang filled back woods LT Aldo Raine, Brad Pitt, their only goal is to find Nazi soldiers, attempt to get information from them and then eventually “scalp” them. The first scalping scene is pretty graphic but super badass at the same time. Every once in a while when a Nazi soldier helps them, they let him go, but fearing that he will take his uniform off they always want to be able to recognize him so they cut a swastika into their foreheads.

Hitler is made to look both ridiculous and entertaining at the same time, played by Martin Wuttke who does a pretty convincing job as the former dictator. As soon as he comes onto the screen you immediately hate him and cant wait to see what exactly the fate is that Tarantino will give him by the end of the film. I will tell you that the fate he does meet, doesn’t stand to historical facts but I would have preferred this ending to the real one.

I was completely blown away by Eli Roth who plays Sgt. Donny Donowitz AKA the “Bear Jew”. His specialty is killing the Nazi soldiers with his bat, again pretty graphic the first time you see him take one out. He doesnt talk much but when he does its pretty entertaining. Even without much dialogue you cant help but love his facial expressions, especially those during the theater scenes.

The entire cast is absolutely impeccable. Diane Kruger   does an incredible job as Bridget von Hammersmark, the world famous actress who is moon lighting as a double agent.   I could easily see Christoph Waltz getting nominated for Best Supporting Actor. I honestly cant say enough about this damn film. Almost everything is brilliant and perfect…except Mike Myers in the movie but we wont go there