Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Title: Inglourious Basterds

Year: 2009

Genre: Action| Drama | War |

Runtime: 153 min

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Starring: Brad Pitt, Diane Kruger, Eli Roth

8,3/10

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A SHARP, TWISTED WAR-MOVIE THAT KEEPS YOUR ATTENTION

Ten years after its release, Inglourious Basterds shows how the war has affected the U.S. It’s still relevant even if it’s 80 years since it started. The best part with Tarantino’s version is the beginning in terms of building drama and suspense for the audience with the editing, specifically. It demonstrates as well how Hans Landa, played by Oscar-winning Christoph Waltz, has worked his way up as a Colonel Officer and what he’s prepared to do to achieve the glorifying gratitude from his commanding officers.

It’s also easy to say that this role was Waltz defining breaking role, that made him noticeable and attract other projects for his future. Cause he’s really someone who defined the movie for what he was supposed to be and brought a different tone to it all. His menacing performance of a German soldier that screams for attention is utterly perfected with his ironically and elegant role-presentation.

Brad Pitt is also a force to reconcile with but he’s not as mesmerizing as Waltz in his role. He does what he needs and should do in the movie and doesn’t have that much of screen time. Much of the movie is surrounded by the Nazis and the German soldier until Pitt’s character is about to get everyone killed. The cast overall is solid in how they interpreted these characters and makes them come alive. A lot of known actors today is recognizable in Nazi uniforms such as Michael Fassbender and Daniel Brühl in supporting roles.

As usual, the dialogue scenes are dragged out in the most annoying way with no end. It works a few times but there’s no really good scene except for the first one with Hans Landa arrival. That’s is probably the only one except for great dialogue. The rest of the movie doesn’t have the attention and build-up as this first scene does. It sets the tone very high but slowly decreases in quality, as tempo is higher, and the action is more of a closure of a scene.

This movie is not nearly close to the accurate portrayal of the time. It uses real names, but the intention is to use the character for the real events. Probably why it’s mostly based in Germany and big part of the dialogue is in French, Italian or German. Although it gives the production a bigger value, the end results give still a taste for a Hollywood production.

It’s fun at sometimes but the comedy always distracts the violence and there isn’t much to take seriously on for the movie. Yes, the tension feels accurate but it’s just a distraction to make this a fun and make the reality a thoughtful exception. It’s not one of the best from Tarantino but it shares the same charm and quirky touch that you would expect from this director.

A charm that wouldn’t work without the masterful and talented Christoph Waltz.