Inglourious Basterds (2009)

Inglourious Basterds is a World War II film of epic proportions.  I think the title of the movie is enough to turn some people off from wanting to see it.  That is unfortunate because those people don’t know what they are missing.  The film is absolutely incredible.  At the time that I saw it, I did not think that Quentin Tarantino was capable of making such a perfect movie.  He writes, directs, and has an uncredited part in the film.

“Once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France…”

A group of Jewish American soldiers known as The Basterds, along with a famous German actress and, a Jewish girl seeking revenge, all find themselves in a plot to try to kill high ranking Nazi leaders.

Inglourious Basterds is one of my favorite films of all time.  It is definitely in my top 5 and maybe even in my top 3.  I wish I had seen it in the theatre.  I was a little bit skeptical of the movie when it first came out, and therefore I ended up waiting to watch it on DVD.  Big mistake!  If they brought it back to the theatre tomorrow, I would see it in a heartbeat.

The film has everything.  Love, hate, blood, guts, war, beautiful landscapes, spies, traitors, loss, tragedy, revenge, hope, tension, an excellent story, a huge cast of amazing characters, a great director, a perfect script, and just enough humor to bring everything together.

Inglourious Basterds is probably Brad Pitt’s best movie.  It is definitely his best character, but it is a toss-up between this movie and Fight Club (1999), although in recent years he has chosen his roles very wisely.

Quentin Tarantino managed to not only get a perfect cast, but somehow he got the best possible performances out of most of them.  It is amazing how incredibly awesome everyone in the movie is.  This is Tarantino’s best movie.  He may come close, but I don’t think that he will ever top this film.

Christoph Waltz broke into American movies with his part in this film.  Up until Inglourious Basterds, he was basically just a well-known foreign actor, mostly in Germany.  His performance in the movie was nothing less than perfect and nobody could have done a better job.  He did receive the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor which he wholeheartedly deserved.  As I mentioned in my Django Unchained (2012) review, he received the same award in back-to-back Tarantino directed films.  Those are both 2 characters that have really stuck in my mind.  He got the role of a lifetime twice.

Like Waltz, Melanie Laurent came out of nowhere and was just astonishing.  I can’t think of an actress off the top of my head that in recent years has done a better job than she did in this film.  The only actress that could maybe come close is Diane Kruger also for her role in this film.

Eli Roth gave the best performance of his acting career.

The not very well-known Daniel Bruhl made his mark in this film and let his presence be known.

Til Schweiger has been acting for a while, but his breakout performance was definitely in this film.  Any reference to him will be a reference to this movie.

This was Mike Myers best movie since Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002).

Michael Fassbender was an up-and-comer before he made this movie and now he is a household name.

Samuel L. Jackson plays the part of the narrator and you also hear the voice of Harvey Keitel.

The movie also includes Gedeon Burkhard, B.J. Novak, Omar Doom, August Diehl, Denis Menochet, Sylvester Groth, Martin Wuttke, Julie Dreyfus, Richard Sammel, Alexander Fehling, Rod Taylor, Samm Levine, Christian Berkel, and Lea Seydoux.

If you have not seen Inglourious Basterds then after you finish reading this review, stop what you are doing, drop everything and go out and buy it immediately.  It is that good.  I am not kidding.  Go now!

I rate this movie a 10 on a scale of 1-10.

Buy, rent, or run?  BUY!