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I'll start off by saying that I really liked Inglourious Basterds, however I would disagree with the people who are calling it Quentin Tarantino's best film. To give a bit of back story about this film, it's about a group of Jewish-American soldiers who are dropped into Germany. Their scalping and brutal killing of nazis spread terror through the Third Reich and soon they are dubbed "The Basterds". Led by Lt. Aldo "The Apache" they were specifically chosen to cause havoc and terrorize the nazis by any means necessary.

The opening scene to Inglourious Basterds is one of the most cinematically amazing scenes I've seen in a long time. Not just in terms of the setting, but also when it comes to Christoph Waltz' performance and the dialogue this scene is a thing of beauty. You are immediately introduced to Col. Hans Landa (Waltz) as a quietly menacing antagonist whose razor sharp wit and awareness make for great tension later on in the film. I love villains who are scary not only for their brutal nature, but for their intelligence as well, and Waltz achieves this perfectly.

In addition to Waltz' performance, there is another performer in this film who I would say did an outstanding job. Melanie Laurent's portrayal of Shosanna Dreyfus is awesome. There is a particular scene where she has an unexpected meeting with Col. Landa and the emotion she puts on the screen is palpable. She presents her full range of emotions including fear, loathing, rage and love throughout the movie flawlessly.


Brad Pitt, as expected, does a great job in this film and definitely worth mentioning is the performance of Til Schweiger. I was actually a bit worried that Pitt's southern accent might come off as a bit overdone or cheesy in this movie but he envelopes his character so thoroughly that it never comes across as fake.

Speaking of fake, then there is Eli Roth. I was really pulling for Roth's performance in this movie to be good, not just because I heard how much he "prepared" for it, or how "authentic" he wanted it to be, but for the overall film. Regardless of how much he put into it, Roth's portrayal of Sgt. Donny "The Bear Jew" Donowitz comes across as painfully grating on the ears. Mainly because his character's dialogue is comprised of wise-cracking remarks yet he seems to miss almost all the comedic rhythm in this movie. It gave you the feeling that his character was strangely out of place in this film and after watching him you understand why. In a sea of very talented actors, Roth's lack of acting ability makes him stand out among the cast, almost blindingly so.

Much like any film though, Inglourious Basterds does not come without it's faults. What makes these faults unique however is that unlike just a plain old bad movie, Inglorious Bastards' faults are not too glaring. Aside from Roth's performance, for me, what goes wrong are the subtle things that are scattered throughout the movie that end up seeming misplaced or distracting. For instance, Tarantino's use of Samuel L. Jackson's voice for narratives seemed really jarring for me, along with the fact that only one of "The Basterds" gets an intro by Jackson. Another detail that didn't sit too well with me, and I was actually a bit shocked to find I felt this way, was the way Tarantino interjects cuts and snippets of pop-culture-ish scenes in this movie. The reason for my unexpected disappointment was because in his previous works, I've always liked the way those scenes fit in the movie and seemed to enhance the story. In this film however, those scenes seemed gimmicky and surprisingly jolting to me. Much like a car with a standard transmission that can't quite get the right gear.

Lastly, as much as I loved the dialogue in this movie, and despite how many people say it is a rhythm, the movie seemed a bit drawn out. Yes, the film is full of really sharp moments that move the story forward, and my complaint is not that the dialogue is dull, but to me it seemed like entire moments in this movie were unnecessary. For example, there is a scene where a nazi explains how to play a game where you place a card on your forehead. That scene goes on for a good two minutes when we had already seen another group of drunken soldiers playing the same game. I didn't know what the game was, but after watching the drunk soldiers play it for a couple seconds, I understood what was going on. I really didn't need a two minute repeat of an explanation through words.


I know people might disagree with me on that point, because they might say that it was adding tension or that Tarantino's movies are dialogue driven. I understand that, but to sum up my thoughts on the matter, there was a quote from another movie critic who didn't like the movie that said: "I wish Quentin Tarantino the director was not so in love with Quentin Tarantino the writer." Unlike the critic, I liked the movie but after seeing Inglourious Basterds I understood what he meant.

The Final Score:
7.5 out of 10