Inglorious Basterds Review

Inglorious Basterds, for those who do not know is a fictional movie about a band of soldiers dropped into occupied France during the reign of Nazi Germany during World War II with the mission to rid the world of the Nazis. The acting is for the most part fantastic, especially by the German actor Christopher Waltz, who screams Oscar during most of his performance as SS Colonel Hans Landa. The movie offers so much more than fine acting, though and much more needs to be said. Here is a grading sheet on the movie.

Acting: B+
I cannot do justice with words the performance turned in by Christopher Waltz and simply put, words fail me. To truly appreciate the cinematic achievement he has created you must witness it first hand. That being said I can put to words the performances of other actors. Brad Pitt does not give his best effort, but his accent is convincing enough for a movie that involves scalping and that huge scar on his throat. Diane Kruger, looks the part, acts the part and turns in a beautiful performance for some white knuckle, tense, action packed scenes in which you have no clue what might happen next. As for the Basterds themselves, there really wasn't much to draw from. Eli Roth, or the "Bear Jew" overacted but dominated the screen when he was on and B.J. Novak played his simple role quite well when he is sitting next to Brad Pitt and also nonchalantly scalping a Nazi. Martin Wuttke plays a convincing Adolf Hitler as he probably humanly wanted to. Melanie Laurent plays the other large role as Shosanna, and turns in a performance I'd say up to par with the rest of the actors and actresses. Overall, the cast fed off each other but Waltz carried the load.

Story: A
A fictional World War II epic where Adolf Hitler is shot in the face and eventually incinerated in a blazing inferno of a movie theater while the sound in the background laughs away at him. It does what many people would have loved to do and actually rid the inhuman bastard of his life in art. Tarantino, who also wrote the story, jumped from chapter to chapter flawlessly, giving us all we needed to know about the characters, time, and place. You saw the revenge in Shosanna's eyes, you could feel heart triumph and her heart ache, and her loss. Without giving too much away as I did before, the movie flows smoothly and you leave the theater only wishing it just started.

Director: A
Quentin Tarantino had failed to impress me since Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. His past movies like Kill Bill, Vol. 1 and 2 have left a bitter taste in my mouth with a large dose of too much Uma Thurman. However, he brilliantly crafted this movie, and gave us his patented cameo and view points as well. I found myself wondering what was going to happen next, hoping things to happen next, being surprised and astonished at what just happened and breathless from scene to scene as the ride just did not come to a stop. Best work to date? You can't place this above Pulp Fiction, but this is an extremely close second. Well done, Quentin, well done.