--- title: "Inglourious Basterds: the reviews" canonical: "https://film.one/film/inglourious-basterds/reviews" title_page: "https://film.one/film/inglourious-basterds" critics_score: 53 critics_reviews: 9 licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Inglourious Basterds (2009): what the critics said Critics' score 53 from 9 reviews: 2 positive, 5 mixed, 2 negative. ## Radio Times — Alan Jones Rating 4/5. The review calls it a long but entertainingly showy melodrama full of cineaste jokes and references, with strong turns from Christoph Waltz and others. It singles out the dialogue-driven vignettes and soundtrack as engaging elements in Tarantino's history-bending homage. [Read the review](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-6heuqh/inglourious-basterds/) ## Little White Lies — Jonathan Crocker Rating 3/3/3. 19 August 2009. The critic finds the film too long and self-indulgent overall but praises it for Christoph Waltz's standout performance as the Jew Hunter and flashes of sharp Tarantino dialogue. The opening scene and verbal set pieces are highlighted as highlights amid the bagginess. [Read the review](https://lwlies.com/reviews/inglourious-basterds) ## The New York Times — Manohla Dargis Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 20 August 2009. The critic highlights Christoph Waltz's charismatic and menacing performance as the Nazi colonel Hans Landa, who dominates the film. While acknowledging the director's signature stylistic flourishes and movie references, the review notes the film's excessive length and uneven impact. [Read the review](https://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/movies/21inglourious.html) ## Screen Daily Fi1m's normalised score 50/100 (inferred from the text). 25 May 2009. Festival review. The critic describes an intermittently inspired epic that shows Tarantino's brilliance alongside his indulgence, with disjointed vignettes and a focus on dialogue over momentum. It notes strong performances from Waltz and Laurent but flags challenges for mainstream audiences due to length and subtitles. [Read the review](https://www.screendaily.com/inglourious-basterds/5001437.article) ## The New Yorker — David Denby Fi1m's normalised score 30/100 (inferred from the text). 17 August 2009. The review describes the film as a ridiculous and appallingly insensitive revenge fantasy that treats the Nazis and WWII history as mere movie tropes without moral accountability. It singles out Christoph Waltz's brilliant performance as Colonel Landa for praise while criticizing the overall silliness and lack of feeling. [Read the review](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2009/08/24/americans-in-paris) ## The Guardian — Peter Bradshaw Rating 1/5. 19 August 2009. The critic finds the film a transcendentally disappointing dud and a colossal long-winded anti-climax, with Brad Pitt delivering his most charmless and wooden performance. Christoph Waltz is singled out as a real find in the role of Col. Hans Landa. [Read the review](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2009/aug/19/inglourious-basterds-review-brad-pitt-quentin-tarantino) ## Empire — Chris Hewitt 4 January 2010. Tarantino delivers an idiosyncratic fairy-tale take on WWII that delights in subverting expectations with tense dialogue scenes, strong performances especially from Waltz, and a bold, outrageous climax that celebrates cinema's power. It is often dazzling and sees him back on exhilarating form. [Read the review](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/inglourious-basterds-review/) ## Evening Standard Festival review. This is an absurd, overlong and mostly cardboard version of World War II that lacks the flair of earlier Tarantino films and hinders actors with a screenplay that feels farcical or dull. Waltz stands out as the best performance amid the indulgence. [Read the review](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/first-review-tarantinos-inglourious-basterds-shot-down-in-cannes-7414436.html) ## Slant Magazine — Ed Gonzalez 17 August 2009. Tarantino's most linear and humane film to date features lush dialogue and real women characters while scrutinizing his cinephilia in a WWII context. It is no masterpiece as alternate history but groundbreaking for the director, with purposeful talk and restraint. [Read the review](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/inglourious-basterds/) ## The Hollywood Reporter — Kirk Honeycutt 20 May 2009. Festival review. The film races by but lacks Tarantino's signature dialogue, humor in violence, and outsized characters. It is mostly a conventional war movie with little action and insufficient depth for its leads. [Read the review](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/inglourious-basterds-review-tarantino-93203/) ## The Independent 20 August 2009. The film is a gleeful fantasia of a war movie full of violence, comedy, talk and movie references that reminds why Tarantino first impressed. It excels in tense dialogue scenes and performances like Waltz's but lacks the texture of real life, making it enjoyable technique rather than greatness. [Read the review](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/inglourious-basterds-18-5492769.html) ## Total Film — Matthew Leyland 28 July 2009. The film is a grand, self-indulgent talky affair crowded with film references that builds a world and shakes up the genre with tension, charm from Waltz, and love of cinema despite some overcooked caricatures and limited action. It is big, brash and unpredictable. [Read the review](https://www.gamesradar.com/inglourious-basterds-review/) ## /Film — Russ Fischer Rating 7/10. 21 August 2009. The critic describes the film as an ambitious but flawed wild ride that offers a meditation on evil and propaganda. Hans Landa's charismatic performance is singled out as a highlight, though the film feels rushed in places with some self-indulgent moments. [Read the review](https://www.slashfilm.com/505065/inglourious-basterds-movie-review-ambitious-exciting-awkward-andsoulful/) ## Den of Geek — Michael Leader Rating 3/5. 14 August 2009. The film is Tarantino’s most ambitious and provocative work to date but also his most underwhelming and fractured. The chapter-based structure feels jarring and unfocused, with tone shifts between pastiche, gung-ho action, caricature and straight drama that leave characters underdeveloped and the overall experience messy. [Read the review](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/inglourious-basterds-review/) ## Eye for Film — Chris Fi1m's normalised score 60/100 (inferred from the text). 17 August 2009. The review praises the inventive, graphic violence mixed with witty dialogue in Tarantino's signature style and strong performances, especially Christoph Waltz. It questions whether the film delivers enough substance or entertainment value beyond clever references and genre play. [Read the review](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/inglourious-basterds-film-review-by-chris) ## The Wrap — Desson Thomson 20 August 2009. The critic ultimately praises the film as one of Tarantino’s greatest, arguing it provides a satisfying fictional moral catharsis by allowing the audience to see Hitler and the Nazis defeated in a spectacular way. He singles out the central conceit of American soldiers scalping Nazis and carving swastikas into their foreheads as delivering a powerful, heartening message about freedom eventually prevailing. [Read the review](https://www.thewrap.com/i-come-praise-tarantino-not-bury-him-5380/) --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Our review: https://film.one/film/inglourious-basterds.md