Inglourious Basterds Review

Tarintino at last comes back to form with a decent movie outside of re-making B movies. This world is an imagined 'other', hence the 'alternate world' ending. Additionally the time-line of Nazi rule is considerably longer. In essence the movie centres around revenge. A group of hardened killers, not too distant from the dirty dozen are sent behind enemy lines to scalp as many nazis as possible [100 per head]. They are then given information that Hitler, Bormann Goering and Goebbels et al and will attend a film premiere in Paris whereby they will try to kill the Reich at his head. Additionally there is another protagonist with her own plot to kill the Reich, to adjust for the killing of her parents. The film is well acted. Brad Pitt kinda just plays himself. His portrayal of an Italian is probably the most funny. However, Christoph Waltz playing Col. Hans Landa really takes his Nazi portrayal [with a damn good script/directing] to the next level and demands a nomination.

Tarintino's cinematography has also changed in some ways. He was noted for large dialogue scenes [see Pulp Fiction and 3 Rooms]. There are a few scenes nearer the end of the movie and is now using more CGI. He's also moved into using for the majority part a foreign language in this movie. It made the whole experience a lot more realistic than having dodgy accents [which he could have done].

As you'd expect there's lots of gore, blood and violence. There's great tension with living in fear of the Nazis which Tarintino brings off convincingly. The opening scenes of the movie are very slow and I was expecting something different as an outcome. It sets a tone where revenge is let out of the cage to play. Another scene of note is the massacre in the bar and pointing a gun at someone else's nuts. Mike Myers also has a cameo which is funny in itself. Tarintino also plays a great card of making you follow a character you believe WILL be the protagonist. It doesn't quite happen.

All in all, I like this movie if you love gore, good scripting, irony as well as an alternate history ending.