As I sat down to watch Inglorious Basterds, I could not help but start thinking about all of the other Quentin Tarantino films that I have loved over the years. In fact I don’t think there are any of his films that I disliked. This made me worry, because as you now there is no director who is immune from eventually producing a big fat dud (cough George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, cough), and that worried me just a little. Luckily all my fears and doubts evaporated away in the very first scene of this movie.
There is just something special about the writing and delivery in a Tarantino film, never has a director been able to hold my attention for so long with nothing but words. Somehow though he pulls it off yet again. Inglorious Basterds is a fun, and at times extremely gory, romp through Nazi occupied France as we follow Brad Pitt’s squad of Nazi killing commandos. Do you really need me to explain the plot more then that…no I didn’t think so.
Like other Tarantino films it is broken up into acts, except this time they actually go in order. One of the best parts of this film is the amount of tension that it relays to the viewer. The opening scene is so tense and tragic alone that it makes all the violence and bloodshed to come later a little less harsh. All the remaining acts build upon that tension, as you know what is coming eventully. This movie is not about big plots twists. You know what’s going to happen, but the movie builds towards the climax so well that you don’t care.
My favorite part of the film has to be the bad guy. In the same way Heath Ledger made the joker a classic performance Christoph Waltz did the same for his character, Col Hans Landa. He managed to make his character scary, funny, crazy, creepy, and a little effeminate. I loved every second he had on screen. His presence in a scene built tension before a word was even said, and that is not easy to do. All around the acting in the film was very good. This is a Tarantino film so there can be some cheese in the way the acting, but it’s a good kind of cheese, not GI Joe cheese.
If I had to nitpick I would say that there is a slight lull in the movie for about 20 minutes near the middle, but it goes by very quickly and at least does serve a purpose in the plot, unlike some other movies. Overall I think that Tarantino has produced another amazing film that seems like it won’t get the attention of his other great works, which is sad, because I think it is just as good as Kill Bill and Pulp Fiction, actually I think its better then pulp fiction in some ways, but what do I know I am just a critic.
I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has enjoyed previous Tarantino films, and even if you don’t like his prior movies at least give it a chance.
