New Inglourious Basterds

New Inglourious Basterds Character Banners

Ahead of its forthcoming release on 21 August, four new character banners for Quentin Tarantino’s WWII kill-a-thon Inglourious Basterds have been released.

The characters depicted are leader of the Basterds Lt. Aldo Raines (played by Brad Pitt), Diane Kruger’s spy Bridget von Hammersmark, Christoph Waltz as principal villain Hans Landa, and Mélanie Laurent as Shosanna Dreyfus, the young girl who sees her family massacred by the Nazis in the opening scene of the movie. The story of Inglourious Basterds apparently sees parallel developing narratives involving Raines and his men and Shosanna and her quest for vengeance, with the two converging in a Parisian cinema where an assassination attempt is launched against Der Fuhrer himself (played by Martin Wuttke).

Anticipated by his fans for what seems like an eternity now, Inglourious Basterds is set to deliver a characteristically Tarantino take on the Second World War, with the events of his movie shot not through the prism of history, but rather that of cinema past (the soundtrack is laden with cuts from old Morricone scores). Premiered at Cannes earlier this year, it would be fair to say the movie attracted something of a mixed reception – although Christoph Waltz did er, waltz off with the festival’s award for Best Actor.

After the second Kill Bill and disappointing Death Proof, the suspicion has been that Tarantino’s movies have only been growing more self-indulgent in recent years, sagging under the weight of star names and resurrected cult figures alike, all wrapping their lips round the reams and ream and reams and reams of macho dialogue. But he is still a director with flair and admirable technique, and Inglourious Basterds appears to be something of a dream project for him, so maybe he will pull something special out of the bag.