Inglourious Basterds (2009)

It's WWII, and Nazis are running about occupying France. Col Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), dubbed the "Jew-Hunter" in most circles, lives up to his moniker when uncovering the Dreyfus family hiding in a small dairy farm. Only young Shoshana (Mélanie Laurent) escapes, and four years later has established herself in Paris as a reserved Gentile cinema owner. Meanwhile, we come upon a small group of Jewish-American soldiers dedicated to mercilessly tearing apart and scalping every Nazi they find; they call themselves The Basterds. They're led by straightforward Southerner Lt Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), and have been causing quite a stir among Nazi troops in France until even Hitler (Martin Wuttke) is intimidated.

When Nazi soldier Pvt Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Brühl) falls for Shoshana, he convinces Goebbels (Sylvester Groth) to open the propaganda film of his hero story at her theater. Head of security for the opening will be Hans Landa, and Hitler is rumored to be making an appearance. Shoshana sees an opportunity to enact vengeance on those who killed her family by burning the theater down with Nazi attendants trapped inside, while the Basterds plan to blow it up with the help of British agent Lt Archie Hicox (Michael Fassbender) and German actress/spy Bridget von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger).

This is a Tarantino flick: there is a lot of talking. Some of it is a bit tedious or dragged-out, but for the most part it's engaging and fun, and I'm glad he varied the languages realistically. The violence is harsh and extreme, when there is violence (which is less often than expected). I liked the inter-connected dual stories and use of chapter separations. The flashback sequences are really cool but there aren't enough of them, so it felt weird to have backstories for some of the Basterds but not all of them.

There was a wealth of interesting characters here but most of them weren't really utilized. A couple of them got one main scene, while the others popped up once or twice for a line. Considering they're in the title, I was surprised that they weren't in it very much. Really, Christoph Waltz as Hans Landa is the star of this film. He's gleefully despicable and makes for a perfect villain, and a nice counterpart to Pitt's hammy and over the top Raine (whose performance felt a bit too forced). I dug the various German actors appearing, especially the adorable Daniel Brühl.

Inglourious Basterds is fun and interesting, with a nice lack of regard for anything historical and a cool host of characters. In Tarantino fashion, it's packed with funny and referential dialogue, multiple storylines, and heady violence, but isn't as well put-together as some of his other films. There isn't enough focus on most of the characters, which was frustrating, and the pacing is sometimes off between slow, drawn-out scenes and well-written moments of tension. I liked it, but it didn't live up to my expectations, and I felt like everyone in the theatre was laughing or reacting a lot more than they should. Also Mike Myers' appearance was really out of place.

4/5