Quentin Tarantino has done it again. Sure, his new WWII flick 'Inglourious Basterds' is self-indulgent -- it features plenty of those trademark scenes that begin with 20 minutes of highly intelligent banter and end with a 30-second bang of graphically-violent gloury served with a generous side helping of blood and guts. And it's long -- 153 minutes long to be exact. But all that is as it should be. After all, this is a Tarantino flick, not 'My Little Pony' (or a Michael Bay movie, for that matter).With all those quintessential Quentin pistons firing, the 'Pulp Fiction' auteur delves headlong into rewriting WWII history, imagining what would have happened if Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) and his merry band of Nazi-scalping Jewish-American soldiers had existed. The result is a film that unfolds like an expertly played game of chess, with all the incongruous pieces converging for one climactic showdown in a French cinema.
By the time Pitt's Southern-drawling, Nazi-scalping badass (whose way of curling his upper lip when he speaks was tailor-made for scenery chewing ... which he does constantly) and the film's arch villain Col. Hans "The Jew Hunter" Landa (Christoph Waltz, surely an early Oscar contender thanks to his performance) square off, all that's left is for Tarantino to scream "Checkmate!" And he does.
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Reader Comments (46)
cyd at 4:47PM on Aug 22nd 2009
violent ,but bloody good!
helen at 5:30PM on Aug 22nd 2009
Dramatic. Grizzly. Full of dread scenes (because it Tarantino and you just KNOW something bad's about to happen). Funny and THE BEST film I've seen all year and I go to a movie practically every weekend.
jim at 12:16AM on Aug 23rd 2009
Tarantino is a talented director but for this movie his story telling is lacking. When not trying to inpress us with his knowledge of French and German directors the story was all over the place. The sound track was not apropiate for a movie set in the world war two. This movie is not worth the money paid to see it.
Jared at 5:30PM on Sep 3rd 2009
you are an idiot. What is the appropriate music? Does it have to be large orchestral pieces we hear in every war movie. Tarantino defies genre and convention to create something new. Maybe you should see G.I. Joe and get your ration of cliche's
Rose at 7:44PM on Sep 4th 2009
Its been a while since I seen a GOOD movie and this movie is very good. The music is kinda wierd, wich is typical for Tarantino, but this movie keeps you on edge from beginging to end and I truly believe-like the Dark Knight-the movie is only as good as the vilain and the villain was awesome!
Chet at 12:51AM on Aug 23rd 2009
Funny, Violent,and Dramatic. I thought the movie was well done. Brad Pitt's character was extremely funny with the southern accent and somewhat cool and relaxing demeanor.
FRED at 10:55AM on Aug 23rd 2009
The movie was started out very strong but quickly fizzled away. Tarantino did not develop any of the Bastard's characters as he has done in the past. The movie fell extremely short of a Tarantino Classic. If it wasn't for the very few violent seens, I would have thought I was watching a French Romance from WWII. The movie get 3 out of Ten. It would have recieved a 4 if They wouldn't have killed the Bastard's everyother seen.
Fletch at 8:46PM on Aug 29th 2009
Funny how the people who don't like this movie are the ones who can't write or spell. Amaaazing. Every scene in this movie was exquisitely done. Every single one. The two and a half hours FLEW by this movie was done so well. If all Quentin did was to REPEAT himself only you illiterate people would go to see his movies. This film was damn near perfect.
bob at 11:08AM on Aug 23rd 2009
I liked the girl that played the part of the cinema owner!! Brad pit was funny, the german officer was good!! a little bloody, but tarintino movies are always bloody!!
rim at 2:47PM on Aug 23rd 2009
Hated it!!!!!!!! If he wants to go artsy, then he should quit movies and become a teacher..I miss the old Tarantino..
jfree at 3:48PM on Sep 6th 2009
"go artsy?" Name one Tarantino film that isn't "artsy" with the exception of Death Proof, which through it's thorough homage demeanor could still probably be called "artsy." Go watch Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen again.
Matt at 3:27PM on Aug 23rd 2009
I'm a uge QT fan, but this movie bombed. It's 240 mins of endless, subtitled jargon, and 10mins (at best) of action, gore, and humor. Pitt is scarce throughout the film and the climax is a 2 minute scene of a burning theater, which we knew was coming since the first reel. Minus the graphic scalping scene, all good parts of this film are in the trailer. What happened to the shoot em up, kick ass QT we all love?
Scott at 12:57PM on Sep 6th 2009
How do you figure the movie at 240 minutes? That would make the Basterds a 4 hour movie? According to the realease notes the movie runs approx. 2.5 hours (153 minues)
Patricia at 7:39PM on Aug 23rd 2009
this was one great movie - all the parts fit together - at the end - and Waltz and Pitt are great
Clay at 2:16AM on Aug 24th 2009
This film just plain sucks! What a let down.
Clay at 2:17AM on Aug 24th 2009
This film just plain sucks! What a let down.
flh at 10:43AM on Aug 24th 2009
too bad it's not a true story -- great movie
Joe at 12:36PM on Aug 24th 2009
Movie was awesome. Typical QT movie and I loved it. Pitt and Waltz were outstanding. I will probably see it again.
Sierra at 1:30PM on Aug 24th 2009
Supporting cast was excellent - especially Christoff Waltz, who makes the movie worth seeing.
The glaring badness of the movie is Pitt -- who is as amature and hammy as a high school drama student. He is unconvincing, unfunny, unscarey, and so lousy that he ruins the movie. Thankfully, he is not in every scene. Apart from that, it is a wallow in "shoulds-woulds-coulda fantasy".
Sierra at 1:33PM on Aug 24th 2009
The supporting cast was excellent - especially Christoff Waltz, who makes the movie worth seeing.
The glaring badness of the movie is Pitt -- who is as amature and hammy as a high school drama student. He is unconvincing, unfunny,
unscarey, and so lousy that he ruins the movie. Thankfully, he is not in every scene. Apart from that, it is a self-indulgent wallow in "shoulda-woulda-coulda" fantasy.