DVD review: Inglourious Basterds a typical Tarantino delight

After taking his first misstep with the Death Proof segment of the retro-exploitation homage Grindhouse, Quentin Tarantino roared back into cinemas with the critically-lauded and financially successful Inglourious Basterds.  This alternate-history look at World War II won raves with a tight and delicious combination of humor, suspense, memorable characters, and catharsis.

As is the case with several of Tarantino’s films, Basterds is broken into chapters and follows three main characters; Col. Hans Landa “The Jew Hunter,” Jewish runaway Shoshanna, and the American Lt. Aldo Raine and his team of Inglourious Basterds. 

This is not a “men on a mission” action film.  It’s a character piece that might surprise some with the relative lack of action and long dialog sequences.  That’s alright because Tarantino’s writing is crisp and the film’s sequences are full of tension and suspense. 

The movie starts with Landa hunting a family of escaped Jews and it’s a great introduction to the character.  Austrian actor Christoph Waltz is fantastic and he’s a front-runner for the Best Supporting Actors award.  His take on the German SS officer is both humorous and menacing and while Waltz is not physically imposing, you’ll feel a sense of dread whenever he shows up. 

Melanie Laurent is equally good as the French Jew on the run from the Nazis.  Typical of Tarantino’s films, she is a strong, resourceful woman that shouldn’t be messed with.  Despite the fragility of her situation, she has revenge on her mind and being that this is a Quentin Tarantino film, you have to think she’s going to get what she wants.  She’s the serious and emotional focal point of this movie.

Brad Pitt is the headliner as the jovial Aldo Raine, a descendant of Apache warriors.  His team of commandos has one mission in mind, “killing Nazis.”  The "basterds" are a crack-commando unit of Jewish-American soldiers dropped into occupied France to terrorize German soldiers with guerrilla warfare tactics. 

Through ambush and outright brutality, Raine and his men become the bogeyman to the Nazi party, spreading fear and legend throughout the German military.  Pitt once again creates an incredibly memorable character and Raine is the most quoted character in this film.  He’s purely comic relief, which may seem strange for a World War II movie, but it works.

Inglourious Basterds features only sporadic action.  It’s more of a European-style espionage thriller following three different and converging storylines.  It’s a bit slow-moving at times, but you don’t even notice it.  The carefully crafted stories meet their conclusion when the major characters meet at a French movie theater and the end is nothing short of spectacular and maybe a little surprising. 

The movie requires multiple viewings to fully appreciate the dialogue, acting, creative cinematography, and staging.  Inglourious Basterds slides in comfortably next to and is the equal of Tarantino classics like Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Jackie Brown. 

Tarantino is not only back on his game, he’s a seasoned pro continuing to grow before our eyes.

4.5 out of 5
Rated R

The DVD/Blu-ray

Inglourious Basterds is available on both DVD and Blu-ray.  One is definitely better than the other.  At two and a half hours, it’s a big movie to cram onto a DVD, especially when several bonus features are also crammed onto the disc.  As a result, the image quality suffers and I found it to be needlessly fuzzy displayed on a high def television.  If you have an HDTV, go with the Blu-ray.  The film and bonus features all comfortably fit on one disc and the image is sharp and clean.  As the special edition DVD comes with a second disc, I’m not sure why the feature couldn’t have been presented by itself on the first disc.  Regardless of the disparity in picture quality, both the special edition DVD and the Blu-ray come with a number of quality bonus features.

Extended and Alternate Scenes (11:26)

Nation’s Pride – full feature (6:10) – Watch Inglourious Basterd’s pitch-perfect German propaganda film in its entirety.

Roundtable Discussion with Quentin Tarantino, Brad Pitt and Elvis Mitchell  (30:45) – Film journalist Elvis Mitchell sits down the the director and the star in a very entertaining and informative discussion on the film.  This is better than the majority of interviews found in bonus features.

The Making of Nation’s Pride (4:00) – Director and Inglourious Basterds actor Eli Roth (Hostel) assumes the role of German filmmaker Alois Von Eichberg to discuss the making of Germany’s greatest film.

The Original Inglorious Bastards (7:39) – This feature takes a look at the 1970’s Italian war film and the cameos Quentin Tarantino gave to star Bo Svenson and director Enzo Castellari in the new film.  (By the way, check out Castellari’s western Keoma if you’re in the mood for a truly alternative film experience).

A Conversation with Rod Taylor (6:43) – The star of The Time Machine and The Birds discusses how Tarantino reached out to him for his small role.

Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitter (3:19) – Taylor returns to talk about how Tarantino surprised him with his favorite Australian beer.

Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel (2:42) – Watch the film’s highly entertaining Italian clapperboard operator in action.

Hi Sally’s (2:09) – the cast and crew send greetings to the film’s editor Sally Menke

Film Poster Gallery Tour with Elvis Mitchell (11:00) – This one’s for hardcore film junkies.  Journalist Elvis Mitchell returns to discuss the historical German cinema posters found in the film’s backgrounds.

Poster Gallery
Trailers

Killin’ Nazi’s Trivia Challenge – Blu-ray only

Bonus Features rating
4.5 out of 5 – only improved by a Tarantino audio commentary…which he never does.