The Inglorious Basterds – World War II ends on a different note.
The Inglorious Basterds – World War II ends on a different note.
Rated: R Time: 2:32
Stars: Melanie Laurent, Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Mike Myers, Michael Fassbenderr, Diane Kruger, Daniel Bruhl, Til Schweiger, B.J. Novak and Samm Levine and others
Final Grade: C-
Summary:
This movie was directed by Quentin Tarantino. Did you realize that this flick was directed by Quentin Tarantino? I’m sorry, did I happen to mention that this movie was directed by Quentin Tarantino?
You know that when the early write ups on a movie spend more time talking about the director than the movie guts, plotline and characters that you have reason to wonder what it is that you’re going to be finally watching. And how much you’re going to enjoy the final product, because, frankly, all those politically correct writers don’t want to bad mouth a product of their industry. I don’t have those kinds of irrational reservations. You get the real thing here.
Our movie starts out with one of the notorious SS Jew Hunters, a rather sinister bastard himself, Colonel Hans Landa(Waltz), interrogating a French farmer about a missing family of Jews. He thinks that the farmer is hiding them in his basement. He’s right. To deal with his problem, he brings in a couple of soldiers and they turn the flooring into Swiss Cheese with their weapons, making some incredibly large holes for guns of that caliber. But as luck(or the script) would have it, one daughter escapes and runs away. Her name is Shosana Dreyfus(Laurent) and we’ll see her again later.
Inglorious Basterds is this year’s installment of a World War II movie featuring a bunch of militant Jews fighting the Nazi’s. The leader of this pack, the head Basterd, is one Aldo Raine(Pitt). Now Raine fancies himself to be the descendant of an Indian warrior and he has his own ideas of how guerilla warfare is supposed to be fought – complete with scalping his dead enemies and branding the foreheads of prisoners with swastikas. He’s also not a fan of taking prisoners. Frankly, this is how war is usually waged, that is, unless you have to deal with the ACLU and embedded press that are overly eager to put your blood thirsty evil ways of torture and killing on page one of their publication and label you as un-American! But, when war is war, what you see in this movie is actually the atrocities that take place. Fortunately, we’re not treated to all the guts and gore of Saving Private Ryan, but there’s plenty enough to drive the picture home.
While Raine’s marauders are doing their best to kill, scalp and disfigure every member of the SS they can find, Shosana has found her way into a village that is home to her aunt and uncle who happen to own the local cinema. Four years later, they have died and she’s running the theater when who should wander by but a young German hero, Frederick Zoller(Bruhl). Zoller’s claim to fame is that he’s a sniper and single handedly killed about 400 allied troops from a tower. Everyone seems to know this but Shosana. He’s got he hots for her, but she couldn’t care less.
Come to find out, Zoller’s staring in his own Joseph Goebbels Nazi propaganda flick about his sniper expertise. And, as luck would have it, Goebbels, Hitler and a bunch of the senior Nazi war machine are all planning on showing up for the premier in Shosana’s little theater. Oh, and guess who’s running security for the whole thing? Yup, our old enemy Colonel Landa.
Well, when the allied command hears about this little homecoming for the premier, they launch a secret plan to kill Hitler and company and bring World War II to an expedited end. Interestingly enough, Shosana would love to have a little revenge for Landa’s little raid on her family. So, both calculate their little scheme’s and the plot’s afoot!
Implementing their plans turns out to be a challenge for both parties. And between the start of the planning and the night of the premier, there’s lot of blood and gore, a few laughs and some really stupid plot lines including Raine’s doing an incredibly awful attempt at being an Italian, with a Tennessee accent. I’m not sure what director would even think that these buffoons would have a snowball’s chance in hell at killing Hitler in the real world, but then, it’s all in the script.
It’s not nice to give away the ending of the movie, but suffice it to say that it’s about as probable as me winning the lotto, several times in a row.
If you want to be entertained with a good ole WW II type flick, lots of killing, scalping and good ole gore that goes with war – this is a flick for you. But, for me, I’ve seen it once and that was enough.
Frankly, this flick may make the Razzies, but it should NEVER make the Oscar’s!
I’m Don Rima, and that’s the way I saw it, From Where I Stand.
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