Being a Basterd Has Never Been so Glourious

Last night, I, Turbo, the Messiah and some other chyeah-worthy people saw the new film by Quentin Tarantino, Inglourious Basterds. First of all, I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that this is the best film he's made since Pulp Fiction. I am a big fan of the Kill Bill films but there was something to me about this one that pushed it into the upper echelon of his work. Second of all, go see this film if you have not and if you have, go see it again.

The film opens on a small farmhouse in the French countryside, where a member of the Gestapo, Hans Landa or "The Jew Hunter," has come to interrogate the owner suspected of hiding Jews. True to his style, Tarantino fills this opening scene with A-1 dialogue that only he could have written. The men converse for sometime about the family in question until the man finally breaks down and admits that he's hiding them under his floorboards. Other members of the Gestapo enter and unload their machine guns straight into the floor. One girl manages to escape and runs off into the French countryside. Skip ahead a few years to find Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) briefing a group of men known as the Basterds about their mission in France. Their mission, as Pitt so eloquently puts it is, "Killin' Nazis." Pretty straight forward. Again, this scene is full of wonderful Tarantino dialogue and great casting.

I won't go into many more details except to say that there are a few cast members not mentioned in the trailers or credits but they have played pivotal roles in many of Tarantino's films. One in particular who narrates bits of the film, but is never seen. If you are a fan of Quentin Tarantino's films, Inglourious Basterds is sure to keep you in your seat laughing and, in some instances...cringing (When Lt. Raine tells his men they all owe him 100 Nazi scalps, he means it quite literally). Tarantino has produced a masterpiece spaghetti western type film about World War II. It should be noted that this film is not a biography. Merely Tarantino's vision of how the war could have, and should have gone. And that's not necessarily a bad thing. I'm sure that after seeing this film, everyone will enjoy Tarantino's version of the end of the war as opposed to what's in the history books. Another great aspect to this film is that we see Brad Pitt playing a comical character. He is very well equipped to play humorous roles under the right circumstances (i.e. Burn After Reading) and I wish that he would play funny characters more often because he's so good at it. Everyone who enjoys movies should go see this one at least once. As of right now, it's my pick for the best film of '09. Not that there's really been much to compete with. I mean, let's face it. Aliens and robot cars are cool, but when Tarantino comes to play, he comes out guns blazing. Roger Ebert gave this film four stars.

We rate this film 100 scalps.