Inglourious Basterds (2009) Reviews

• 153 minutes of patches

  VaultBoyX2009-08-24

  After watching Inglorious Basterds i was really surprised when i saw ratings on IMDb. Didn't expected high ratings and top 250 place. If we can only isolate and rate Christoph Waltz's acting performance i would agree that this movie deserves 10. But he is not alone, and his performance can't cover horrible plot, boring conversations, unfunny characters, alternative QT WW2 fantasy and Eli Roth as Jew bear. The opening scene with Denis Menochet as farmer and Christoph Waltz as SS officer is best part of the movie. Only part that have same quality and connects tension from that scene with the rest of the movie is a basement scene. Basement scene was crossroad for me. Michael Fassbender was great in role of British spy and his character adds some new layer of logic and realism in movie. In moments you can actually see some plot finally breaking through the rubbish you watched after the farm scene. After the basement chapter, movie is going nowhere. Empty space. A lot of empty space for movie that last 153 minutes. Long and boring scenes with boring characters and conversations. Childish fantasy mixed up with Spaghetti western movies and some atmosphere that don't belong to WW2 period. Thats why we have basterds to fill everything else and patch the rest of movie. They failed. Basterds are weakest/undeveloped and most boring part of movie. Movie is named by them, yes - Brad is on Movie poster ... but they are horrible. Worst role of Mr Pitt and i hope last one from Eli Roth. Cinema/Shosanna story with David Bowie music was just another QT patch v1.1 to fill huge empty space between farm and basement. Extremely boring scenes with Mélanie Laurent (taking off cinema letters, red dresses, secret love Marcel...) will blast your brain. Yes - headache is a must. Beside 2 good scenes, i really enjoyed listening smooth gradient of German, French and English language. But again, this is connected to Waltz and Fassbender and their personal knowledge that Tarantino used for his fantasy. Inglorious Basterds is Hybrid movie where gangsters are replaced with Nazis adding them wild west background layer with Brad Pitt on movie poster just to sell tickets. It doesn't work in this case. 5/10 - only for Christoph Waltz and Michael Fassbender.

• Who the hell is Christoph Waltz?

  paulmuehlendahl2009-08-25

  That's what I thought, when I heard about the cast of Inglorious Basterds. And I'm both from Germany and into movies. That guy is older than 50 and so far he almost only played in mediocre TV series - and even there he didn't play the main parts. Obviously nobody ever noticed, what he's capable of. Now, thanks to QT, he got one shot to change that - and - let's put it this way - that was a bingo! He is the living proof of what a great caster Tarrantino is. By the way: I think it's a great privilege to watch the movie as a German - being able to understand everything. And the German dialog is written almost as good as the English. Now I could repeat, what many others have written here before. I'll put it short: Finally, QT is back.

• People seem to be missing the point

  ablewuzi2012-07-10

  This review gives everything away, so see the movie first. It is neither allegory nor satire, the two finest categories in both fiction and cinema, and yet it approaches perfection anyway. It is of a nature I have no name for, but it is a nature that reveals truth and undermines falsehoods. Nothing is more cloaked in falsehood than the victor's depiction of past wars. It is especially true of the children of the victors--especially the children of US WWII veterans, like myself. We get our view of the war from movies like Audi Murphy in To Hell and Back or Saving Private Ryan. Nothing but praise for our heroes and cheers for killing the enemy. But QT exposes this hypocrisy by engineering a film where we are disgusted first by the excesses of the enemy and then by the excesses of our heroes. That is the first instance. The hypocrisy is slammed home in the second instance where we are first disgusted by the sight of American after American being shot dead by by a German sniper hero and secondly brought to revel in the butchery of several hundred enemy at the hands of our heroes. Tit for tat. It fits the pattern of praise for our heroes and cheers for killing the enemy, but because it is presented both ways the hypocrisy becomes self- evident. This is why so many people hate the movie--even if they fail to realize it. High art, true art, 10 of 10.

• Read "Hated it" reviews before watching

  htabbara2009-09-22

  I will just start with some quotes from other reviewers that describes it the best. "This is easily one of the most overrated films of the year and probably the worst film Tarantino has ever done." "The ONLY good thing in this movie was the performance of Mr. Waltz". "So I was really disappointed, and seeing this movie on place #40 of the greatest movies of all time is the only thing about this, that leaves me with my mouth opened" Now for more details go and read "Hated it" reviews. One thing I hate about a movie is when it treats audience as bunch of dumb people. (Spoiler ahead). Now I know Tarantino's style is based on fantasy and fictitious plots, but come on, Adolf Hitler and 200 top Nazis Officers will be in attendance of a movie premier in occupied France and you have only two guards in the whole theater and the surroundings? Where also an American-African walks around freely with steel pipes locking doors and setting fire. These 2 guards are then executed in seconds opening the door for our 2 "heroes" to slay Hitler at point blank with around 100 rounds... very dumb. At least, challenge our intelligence and create a smarter plot to kill one of the most feared tyrants of all time (Go watch Valkyrie). Besides, Mike Myers impersonation of a British general is more realistic and authentic than the guy doing Hitler, just picture that. What ruined it further, is that the only smart and powerful character, which nailed everyone in the movie, with his psychological and mind bending interrogations, ends up to be effortlessly tricked by the most mindless character in the movie. After watching the movie, I was sympathizing with Nazis, who were portrayed to have more bravery and humanity than our Basterds!!! Imagine that. My recommendations, if you have insomnia, 2hrs 33 min to waste or you want to give your mind a break, go watch this movie.

• A waste of time and money

  derwunderbaremandarin2010-02-23

  This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. What is the purpose of this movie? A bunch of Americans enters Nazi-occupied France and starts slaughtering Germans. You see them scalping their enemies and beating them to death with baseball bats. While making jokes, of course. Some will say that this movie is a parody of a certain genre. For a parody, it is neither witty nor funny. The contents is zero. It is exceptionally brutal and disgusting. Underneath lies a subtle political message, because it is again "the good guys" killing "bad Nazis". The whole plot is unthinkable if you turn it around. Could you imagine a storyline where Nazis (while making jokes) kill everybody in the Warsaw ghetto with flamethrowers? Probably not, but this movie is exactly about that, with the exception that is satisfies the weird moral expectations of a certain audience: slaughtering people is so cool when done by the right people. This movie only works because of the hidden Nazi-ideology underneath. It does not regard the enemy as people. And if the latter is supposed to be an element of the fun, I am happy to say that this kind of fun will always remain a mystery to me. Another mystery is how such violence can fascinate the American crowd while a bit of nudity will freak them out. But if a naked body is pornography, this movie with all its brutality is pure pornography at its very worst. Inglorious Basterds is a pointless, boring and tasteless waste of time and money.