Quentin Tarantino - Ranking His Films From Worst To Best
2. Inglourious Basterds
The last line of Inglourious Basterds states that this might just be Tarantinos masterpiece, a claim which has grown something closer to a fact than a boast in the years since its release. Alas, Tarantinos sprawling World War II subversion couldnt quite secure top spot on this list, but that its ranked so high clearly suggests that its mighty close to that masterpiece tag. Tarantinos work post-Kill Bill has been patchy at best, but Inglourious Basterds is the aughts anomaly; a film that, to my mind at least, can only be bettered by one picture in the directors oeuvre.
It takes balls to mess with something as well-known and as ingrained in the collective mindset as WWII, but if theres one thing Tarantino has always had, its balls. Not many directors could include a scene where Adolf Hitler gets peppered in the face with an assault rifle at close range, but Inglourious Basterds is about more than just shocking, brilliant instances of subversive violence.
For a start, the opening scene might just be the best in all of Tarantino, with Christoph Waltzs evil, delightful Col. Hans Landa teasing out some hidden information in a scene of Hitchcock-esque suspense. Then theres Waltz himself, delivering what surely ranks as one of the finest performances in a Tarantino movie. Then theres that other great scene, again steeped in unbearable tension, as a band of spies play a card game in an underground tavern. Or theres the glorious widescreen tableaux, as shot by regular QT DoP, Robert Richardson.
Inglourious Basterds barely misses a beat, and it serves as the directors second best film as a consequence.