Inglourious Basterds
I wasn't sure what to expect when I went to see Inglourious Basterds yesterday. The trailer for the movie was awful, just a lot of shouting and violence. Fortunately Inglourious Basterds is nothing like its trailer. This is throwback movie in a lot of ways, with fantastic location shooting, an incredibly talented international cast and plenty of Quentin Tarantino trade marks.
Despite what the name of the film would have you believe, Inglourious Basterds features relatively little of the basterds (Brad Pitt and his band of Jewish soldiers). Instead this film is a true ensemble piece with many different characters who converge for the climactic final scenes. This allows some of the lesser known cast members who make up the majority of the cast to really shine. Christoph Waltz who plays the main villain and Mélanie Laurent who plays a Jew in hiding were particularly good.
The film making on display here is also impeccable. The cinematography was great, featuring some very long takes as well as some beautiful exteriors. Tarantino does an amazing job milking every bit of suspense from a series of tense, yet entertaining, dialogue heavy scenes. Some of the sequences are hard to watch simply because the buildup is so strong.
I can't say enough good things about this movie. Any problems I had with a few characters or it feeling a little long are vastly overshadowed by how good the rest of the film is. If you are a Tarantino fan, or even if you aren't, give this movie a chance and you might be surprised at what you find. 4.5/5
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