Inglourious Basterds

Typical Tarantino. Which means it's good.

And the elements of a Tarantino film are:

1. Blood. Lots and lots of blood.

2. Violence. Lots and lots of violence.

3. Chapters. Yes, dividing the film into chapters may not sit well with some, but this actually makes Tarantino's stories more layered. Contrary to what the title may say, this film is not just about the Basterds. It's a story of Nazi-occupied France, escaping Jews, revenge, inter-racial love, German accents, baseball bats, and Third Reich cinema. You can't get any more layered than that.

4. Hot chicks. Okay, so Diane Kruger is stunning, as always, but it's newcomer Mélanie Laurent who takes my breath away. She has a very beautiful face, meant for the silver screen, no matter what period she was born in. Okay, enough fanboying.

5. Countless cinematic references. Yes, Mr. Tarantino, we know you're a filmmaker. And a film buff. And we know you love inserting your knowledge of film history in your movies. Normally it would've been annoying, as I am a fanboy of film history as well, but for your knowledge of Third Reich cinema, you deserve an award. It's not like full knowledge, but you do know your movies, I'll give you that.

Let's not forget the great performances by the actors. Bradolf Pittler was great, as usual. And Mélanie Laurent was surprisingly good (she is not just a pretty face, people, she can act). But the best performance in the movie was from Christoph Waltz, who played that villainous S.S. officer Hans Landa. He was so good he was despicable. And also, hooray for the cameos of Mike Myers as the British general, and for Samuel L. Jackson, who voiced the narrator.

This is, by the way, an alternate reality. History did not really happen that way. Hitler was not machine-gunned in the face. But that's Tarantino, so you let it pass.


*some info from IMDb
pic from eatsleepgeek.com


Inglourious Basterds. USA and Germany. 2009.


Rating: Eight out of ten.
Scalping scenes: Eight and a half out of ten.
Tarantino's spelling: Two out of ten.