Inglorious Basterds

⭐9/10

Take me back to 2009 when you could make a movie where Nazis were unabashedly the bad guys and it was funny to see them tortured!

This is a movie about Brad Pitt leading a group of guerilla Jewish-Americans, hunting down Nazis during WWII and killing them in ways that will inspire fear in the rest of the Nazis. But Brad Pitt is a major hick that pronounces it Nat-zee and his group of fighters are clearly not the most sophisticated or well-mannered men. 

But it doesn't matter! Because opposite them is Christopher Waltz as the "Jew Hunter," one of the most terrifying villains put to screen. He is a hyper-competent detective who is always one step ahead, and I absolutely love this brawn vs brains matchup, because how often is it where the good guys are the brawn? It makes for some explosive, absolutely hilarious interactions where the Americans have to brute-force their way out of delicate situations. 

This movie is told in a super distinct manner, essentially 5-6 short films, all related to one another. Each scene is like 30 minutes long. It's absolutely absorbing and amazingly done, and I'm not sure I've seen a movie like this. I explained the plot briefly, but that skips over a few totally separate storylines, like one from the perspective of a Jew who escaped Christopher Waltz, or one from British secret agent Michael Fassbender who is amazing in this. All of these are equally good and they all connect in fascinating ways. 

One of my favorite elements in this movie was the feeling of suspense. This is great on a scene-to-scene basis, with each interaction slow-played for dramatic effect, but also the movie as a whole. It's one of the few movies where I genuinely didn't know what was coming next, and I didn't know what I wanted to come next. Nearly every good outcome for one good guy likely meant death for another, and it was cool seeing all these threads come together, knowing that even our good guys were at odds in some form. It gave me a sense of anxiety for sure, but few movies have made me want to jump to the ending more to find out how it plays out. 

This movie has a hundred other great qualities. The writing is sharp, unique, funny, interesting. The violence is hilariously grotesque. I loved the focus on language. A bit of a spoiler, but I thought the contrast between the different characters was genuinely brilliant, where Fassbender's cover is blown because he fails to consider tiny cultural norms or subtle differences in accents, and yet Brad Pitt refused to even try disguising himself and has the most success. His "Bonjur-no" had me dying. That's the American way!! Plus that final interaction kinda tied the bow on all of this, a true Game of Thrones "power is power" moment. 

I mean, this is just a terrific movie. It's as brilliant as it is entertaining. I know Tarintino is problematic and semi-cancelled, and Pitt might be too, but these guys are just such incredible, unique talents (alongside Waltz and Fassbender who I believe are not cancelled). This movie is terrific, and yet I can't help but be a tad dissatisfied by the ending which will keep this just short of a ten for me.