# Inglourious Basterds (2009)



## Dave (Feb 7, 2010)

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as "The Basterds" are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis.

Typical Quentin Tarantino - clever, witty, slick, extremely and needlessly graphically violent, over long, but well worth seeing despite that.

In some alternative reality, 'The Basterds' are sent on a daring mission to take down all the leaders of the Third Reich who are attending a film premier in a small Paris cinema. Also in typical Taratino, the well laid plot does not go to plan and complications pile upon complications.

Without a doubt, the Landa, 'Jew Hunter' character was the most interesting.

I really enjoyed this, although it was pure hokum and more people die than in a spaghetti western. The ending might have been predictable, but I didn't see it coming.


----------



## dustinzgirl (Feb 8, 2010)

You know, a friend of mine said that I shouldn't let my kids watch this because it was needlessly graphically violent. But, IMO the Holocaust itself was needlessly graphically violent. So I let my teens watch it, but not my little guy, cuz he hasn't the capacity. I myself have not had the time to watch it yet.


----------



## Moonbat (Feb 8, 2010)

Compared to most tarrantino films this is not graphically violent. The last scene is probably the worst. I loved this, I've seen it twice now and it improves upon watching. I was a bit disappointed at first because I knew how it was going to end, I watched too many clips from it before I saw it. But I too love Landa, he was a brilliant character.
Definitely worth a watch to anyone that does like tarrantino movies, and worth watching for those that don't. IMHO


----------



## Winters_Sorrow (Feb 8, 2010)

It was an ok movie but I did think it didn't hang together very well in truth and felt disjointed and meandering. Landa was excellent though and is probably a shoo-in for an Oscar later this month. 

The opening scene with him is excellent but my personal favourite was near the end when meeting "Italian" Brad Pitt and flawlessly switching to that language to speak with him, and Brad replying "Si" with a strong American accent to his every elaborate sentence.


----------



## Allegra (Feb 8, 2010)

This film deserves a thread. I loved it. Didn't think it's over long. Yes Landa's actor Christoph Waltz is brilliant, definitely an Oscar winner. Hope we can see more of this talented actor in the future. Sure many more contracts will come to his way. Among the Tarantino films I watched this one is the best.


----------



## Dave (Feb 8, 2010)

Allegra said:


> Didn't think it's over long.


I'm biased, I think any film over two hours is over long! 



Moonbat said:


> Compared to most tarrantino films this is not graphically violent. The last scene is probably the worst.


I've not seen the Kill Bill films, but I've seen the others, including Dusk to Dawn. I'd say it was on a par. It was enjoyment of Swastika carving that I found worst, but that is admittedly a major plot point, and so necessary.


----------



## HoopyFrood (Feb 8, 2010)

When describing the film before watching it with some friends, I said that it wasn't as violent or as bloody as his previous films. Now I realise it's more a different style, as it were -- less eighty litres of blood splashed across the floor, more...inventive. I had forgotten about some of the close ups of scalping and whatnot. And the bit in the bar is so brutal and so quick -- after a long build up and an ever growing suspense, it's so sudden and shocking. 

I love this film, though, truly do. I am a big Tarantino fan anyway, mainly for his cinematic style and dialogue. What was especially cool about this film was the shift between different languages. And I agree that bit with Brad Pitt and his men 'speaking' Eye-talian. Hilarious! 

Landa = absolutely brilliant. That opening scene (quite a riskly long one, too) is just...tense beyond words. Whole heap of subtext shoved onto it, excellent stuff. 

It's an odd film, really, with an amalgamation of lots of different things (I like the sweeping shots of the cinema lobby and then some helpful arrows pop up to point out key figures) and with the usual chapter format that comes together at the end, but it works well. Certainly a Taratino film, unique, clever, violent and visually interesting. 

And another woot for Christoph Waltz for being amazing. "It's a bingo!"

Was thinking today, though, that the bit in Reservoir Dogs with the infamous ear bit is probably the most well handled violent bit in his films. Sliding the camera away for the actual moment of it works so well -- people have a tendency, when something nasty appears on screen, to scrunch up and look away and completely miss the entire bit. The fact that the camera does the looking away for us means that we're still in the film and that we can still hear what's happening, too, which makes us imagine all too strongly just how that's feeling for that guy right now. Ouchie, indeed.


----------



## kokosdera (Mar 20, 2010)

Honestly I didn't know Christoph Waltz before watching this movie. But he deserved his Oscar in IB. How can I not adore a Jew Hunter Nazi who can speak in 4 languages?


----------



## Allegra (Mar 20, 2010)

HoopyFrood said:


> Was thinking today, though, that the bit in Reservoir Dogs with the infamous ear bit is probably the most well handled violent bit in his films. Sliding the camera away for the actual moment of it works so well -- people have a tendency, when something nasty appears on screen, to scrunch up and look away and completely miss the entire bit. The fact that the camera does the looking away for us means that we're still in the film and that we can still hear what's happening, too, which makes us imagine all too strongly just how that's feeling for that guy right now. Ouchie, indeed.


 
Very true. Even Tarantino has certain subtlety.  



kokosdera said:


> Honestly I didn't know Christoph Waltz before watching this movie. But he deserved his Oscar in IB. How can I not adore a Jew Hunter Nazi who can speak in 4 languages?


 
I guess most of people outside of Austria/Germany never heard of the name Christoph Waltz before. Great cast. Though speaking 4 languages is rather a compliment for a Jew hunter since in the real history it's the Nazi hunters who were most famously multilingual.


----------



## HoopyFrood (Mar 20, 2010)

Glad he won best supporting actor at both BAFTAs and Oscars. I was rooting for him in both. And loved what he said when collecting his award: "Oscar and Penelope Cruz [who handed him the award]...that's an Uber-bingo!"

Haha. 

Apparently he's a method actor. How scary would it have been to be groovin' around the set and then suddenly bump into Landa...


----------



## Devil's Advocate (Apr 5, 2010)

Loved the movie. Waltz was most definitely the star; I loved Landa's character from the opening scene. Terrific and scary, but not in an over-the-top manner.

I didn't get the Brad Pitt casting, though. Not that he did a bad job, he was fine. But really, _anyone_ could have done that role. Of course, I feel that way about 99.9% of Brad Pitt's roles. I wonder if Tarantino didn't cast him purely to have an A-list star in the mix...


----------



## Dave (Apr 5, 2010)

Brad Pitt has a few other odd roles in his resume. His performance in _Twelve Monkeys_ shows that he is actually a good actor and not just a celebrity. I agree about this role though.


----------



## Quokka (Apr 6, 2010)

I'll have to watch this again at some point, lots of my friends loved it but it just didn't click with me and I'm usually a big Tarantino fan. I was really tired and actually feel asleep. Part of it was I just didn't buy Brad Pitt either as playing it straight or hamming it up.

But I remember my wife and I both saying at the end of the movie that we didn't love it but that the guy who played the Jew Hunter was really great.


----------



## clovis-man (Apr 6, 2010)

Dave said:


> Brad Pitt has a few other odd roles in his resume. His performance in _Twelve Monkeys_ shows that he is actually a good actor and not just a celebrity. I agree about this role though.


 
 As good as Waltz was, I still enjoyed Pitt's part. I thought I'd fall out of my chair when he drawled "Buon Giorno".


----------



## biodroid (Apr 6, 2010)

Watched it over the weekend and thought it was good but the ending was very historically inaccurate, not sure why they went that route. I preferred Valkyrie as it was more accurate.


----------



## tygersmovie (Jul 22, 2010)

Probably the best movie ever made about the Holocaust.


----------



## kcartlidge (Jul 22, 2010)

Other than the scalping I didn't find the violence too bad, and some of the imagery was very well done. I have to say, though, I *far* preferred the original Inglourious Basterds that has been re-released. A better tale, better actors, better filming ... just better overall.

Of course the original had Peter Hooten in it, too (Dr Strange in the 1978 film), and he does a finer job than most of the cast in Tarantino's totally dissimilar homage whose only link seems to be nicking the title and also being set in WWII !!


----------



## steve12553 (Sep 16, 2010)

I was kind of disappointed when I first saw it, but like most Tarentino movies, I had to see it again to begin to realize all that was there. *Pulp Fiction* and *Kill Bill Volume One* grabbed me enough with the first showing to realize how deep the were. (Still needed several viewing to take it all in.)


----------



## biodroid (Sep 17, 2010)

I thought it was excellent. I liked the way he uses the characters wits to get out of situations instead of guns, it was an intelligent movie at least for Tarantino.


----------



## J-WO (Sep 17, 2010)

Liked all the talk-up tensity of most the scenes. The whole project was pretty daring all round--there were no battle scenes in the classic war film sense and the ending was a total surprise (No one had told me about it!).

Spoiler- I thought Hitler got off pretty lightly, really. In our reality's history he had days of sitting in a hole to ponder over what he'd done. Here it was quick.


----------



## biodroid (Sep 17, 2010)

J-WO - I don't about you but with no battle scenes or all out action I was never bored with it, it just kept you interested the whole time.


----------



## JDP (Sep 17, 2010)

I sat through this; I'll join the chorus that Landa was a great character, impeccably played. I really enjoyed the first (?) scene with Landa questioning the guy in the cabin and also the scene in the bar. The dramatic tension in both was terrific. After that first scene though I felt, frankly, shafted; all the perfectly pitched tension dissolved into a mediocre tongue-in-cheek action flick. To me, the moments of brilliance only made the whole seem more uneven.

The majority of the movie, IMHO, was way too self indulgent. Love Tarantino pre Kill Bill; just about find it in myself to tolerate the rest. I realise I'm in a minority, but for whatever reason I _just don't get it_.


----------



## Tansy (Sep 27, 2010)

I'm a big Tarantino fan and really enjoyed this when I saw it at the cinema, need to re-watch it I think

As for Brad Pitt, its not the first time he's been in aTarantino screenplay as he's had a cameo role in True Romance as Floyd, DIck's roomie, which was written by Tarantino but directed by Tony Scott.


----------



## biodroid (Sep 27, 2010)

tygersmovie said:


> Probably the best movie ever made about the Holocaust.



That would be *Saving Private Ryan*.


----------

