By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 18 seconds ago
Quentin Tarantino is known for making provocative movies (including Pulp Fiction and Once Upon a Time In Hollywood) that use both vulgar language and ultraviolence to create cinematic experiences like nobody else. These films are rightfully considered modern masterpieces, but it’s hard to deny that this director goes out of his way to offend as many people as possible while weaving his unforgettable cinematic tales. If you’re in the mood to check out the director’s most provocative, offensive, and ambitious work, I’ve got some good news: you can now stream Inglorious Basterds on Netflix.
The premise of Inglorious Basterds is that the American military circa 1944 has a special unit (the titular Basterds) whose primary job is to frighten the Nazis occupying France in the most direct possible way: by killing and scalping them. But things intensify when the unit gets a special mission involving the premiere of a new German propaganda film. The results of this mission could quite literally save the world, but a single mistake could mean the death of the Basterds and the fall of the West to the forces of Adolf Hitler.
Like many of Quentin Tarantino’s movies, Inglorious Basterds is filled with big names, including Brad Pitt (best known for Fight Club and Moneyball) as the the good old boy who leads the Basterds in their righteous fight against the Nazis. Meanwhile, Eli Roth (best known as the director of horror movies Hostel and Thanksgiving) stars as “The Bear Jew,” who uses his intimidating physique and trusty baseball bat to send frightened Nazis straight to Hell. And Michael Fassbender (best known to genre nerds for Prometheus and X-Men: First Class) plays a British commando whose knowledge of film could be the key to the Basterds’ crazy mission.
All of those actors give powerful performances, but nobody deserves more credit than Christoph Waltz (best known outside this film for Django Unchained, another Tarantino film) as a Nazi officer who serves as the Basterds’ Big Bad. He’s more than just a villain in this film: Waltz gives his character a cultured mien that belies the horrific murder of Jews that he enacts, starting with the pulse-pounding first scene of the film. It’s no exaggeration to say that Waltz may be the scariest character in cinema, serving as the politely smiling incarnation of the worst atrocities in modern history.
As with all Quentin Tarantino movies, Inglorious Basterds is filled with dialogue that fleshes out each off-kilter character while providing the kind of effortless world-building that most directors can only dream of. Without getting into spoilers, the movie takes place in a slightly different universe than our own, and there’s an undeniable joy in navigating its murky historical waters and discovering one bloody surprise after another.
Speaking of bloody, the film is also unabashedly violent, so it’s not for the squeamish. If you can handle its gore and over-the-top savagery, though, you’re like to enjoy this Tarantino film that doubles as an action film luxuriating in righteous violence against enemies all of us simply love to hate. And from beginning to end, this film delivers the kinds of nasty surprises that are sure to leave you on the edge of your seat.
While Inglorious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s most offensive movie, it certainly didn’t put critics off. On Rotten Tomatoes, this film has a rating of 89 percent, with critics praising the director for delivering a truly genre-defying classic of postmodern mayhem. The movie effectively serves as both a meditation on violence and a glorification of unrestrained brutality, all wrapped up in a cinematic package that is so entertaining that even the most tenderhearted audiences can’t complain about the movie’s delicious savagery.
Will you agree that Inglorious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s most offensive film, or is this one movie you’d rather hide under your floorboards? You won’t know until you stream this movie in all its Nazi-hunting glory on Netflix. If you hate it, you can go ahead and chew me out, but don’t worry: like Brad Pitt’s insanely memorable character, I’ve been chewed out before.
INGLORIOUS BASTERDS REVIEW SCORE
