Review: Inglourious Basterds
When Quentin Tarantino makes a film he doesn’t subscribe to the usual formula pertaining to that particular genre, rather he turns the genre on it’s head and gives it his own angle. For example, Reservoir Dogs was a heist film that had no heist in it! This time Tarantino has made a World War II film, but not just any World War II film…. it’s a Tarantino World War II film.
Inglourious Basterds gives us Tarantino’s alternative ending to World War II. Yes an alternative ending like on DVDs!
The Inglourious Basterds are an American Jewish outfit that has been sent in to Nazi Occupied France to carry out an Apache style guerilla war on the Nazis. When an ideal opportunity emerges to take out all of Germany’s top brass the Basterds are drafted for the task. But the Basterds are not the only ones with a plan to do so.
This isn’t exactly what I would have expected from a Tarantino World War II film, for one thing I would have expected it to be alot more violent and fast paced. Instead the violence is minimal and the film felt a little drawn out and slow at times. But these are not necessarily negative comments. The film is actually quite suspensful. The opening scene is a very tense conversation between a French dairy farmer suspected of hiding a Jewish family and Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), “The Jew Hunter”. I think the dialogue in this film is much deeper and more intense than we’re used to from Tarantino.
Overall I found the film enjoyable, funny, but not always “laugh out loud funny”, tense and artistic. I found the dialogue engaging and a departure from Tarantino’s usual. I would definitely recommend it.
