Inglourious Basterds
Directed by Quenten Tarantino
Starring Brad Pitt, Melanie Laurent, Christopher Waltz, Eli Roth, Michael Fassbender, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, and Mike Myers.
Backstory
Being a film geek who became a film geek in the 1990s, reverence has to be paid to Quenten Tarantino. He’s the guy who lived the dream…a film geek who finally said, “Screw it! I can do better!” and picked up a camera and did just that. Granted, out of the indie directors who sprang up in the 1990s doing that, my love belongs to Kevin Smith. But Tarantino must be acknowledged, and so I knew I had to go see his World War II opus.
Plot
Lt. Aldo Raine and his troops in World War II work deep behind enemy lines in Europe. Their mission is to spread terror among the Nazis by killing as many as brutally as possible. The Germans soon name them “the Basterds.” We also meet Shoshana Dreyfuss. She was a young Jewish girl when her family was murdered by the Nazis. Now, she lives in Nazi-occupied Paris under an assumed identity and runs a movie theatre. These two groups soon converge when it’s revealed that Shoshana’s theatre has been chosen to host the premiere of the latest Nazi propaganda film, and Hitler himself will be there for the premiere. Several plots are then hatched to assassinate Hitler in the theatre. Will the groups succeed and bring an early end to the war?
What I Liked
It’s Tarantino, so the violence tends to be over-the-top. As always, there’s some great selections in music. It looks great. It’s funny when it needs to be, and even manages to create some chilling moments of suspense.
What I Didn’t Like
Tarantino really likes his Mexican standoffs, doesn’t he? And it does get quite talky for a World War II film.
Final Assessment
It’s a solid film, but Kill Bill is still my favourite Tarantino work.