Trailer Breakdown: Inglourious Basterds

Fall In!

Famous Horror Director In Drill Sergeant Action! It’s George Romero, everyone. All right, all right… It’s Eli Roth as Sgt Donnie Donowitz, who has a particularly favourite way of punishing Nazis, which you’ll see later.

Splatter-Gun

Typically stylish and blood-splattered credits ahoy! It’s how you know this is a Quentin Tarantino operation. It’s also loaded with splatter pack nostalgia.

Raine Of Fire

Our first moving-image look at Brad Pitt as Lt Aldo Raine, complete with Southern twang (Brad’s doing that accent a lot recently) and brutal neck scar rumoured to have come from a lynching. He introduces himself and asks for eight soldiers.

Meet The Troops

“We’re going to be dropped into France, dressed as civilians,” explains Raine. We see two of the bastards, Private Hirschberg, played by Samm Levine and Private Zimmerman (Michael Bacall). “We’re going to be doing one thing and one thing only, continues Raine. “Killin’ Nazis.” Hooray!

Sir, Yes Sir!

“Yes sir!” shouts his troop. This is Private Utivich, played by BJ Novak from the US version of The Office.

Running Scared

Raine goes on to explain the Nazis’ campaign of terror and murder, and says that’s what the team is going to do to them. We catch a glimpse of Melanie Laurent’s Shosanna Dreyfus, who is running in blood-caked fear from the house where her entire family was murdered by German soldiers. She’ll want revenge, you know.

Marked For Life

“We will be cruel to the Germans,” says Raine. And he’s right – we meet one of the soldiers captured by the crew – he’s let go, but not before they carve a Swastika into his forehead. Cheaper than a tattoo, we suppose. “Germans will not be able to stop themselves from imagining the cruelty their brothers endured at our hands, and our boot heels and the edge of our knives.

Heroine Chic

“The German will be sickened by us. The German will talk about us. And the German will fear us!” Diane Kruger’s Bridget von Hammersmark gets her Kill Bill moment.

Bat Man

“A Nazi ain’t got no humanity,” bawls Raine. And now we get to see Donowitz’ specialty- human baseball. Strike one! “They need to be destroyed. Each and every man under my command owes me 100 Nazi scalps. And I want my scalps!” Please would be nice, Aldo…

You Says The Name...

Title credit! Wonder if they’ll use that in Germany.

Fuhrer Fury

“Nein! Nein! Nein! Nein! Nein!” screams Adolf Hitler. He’s not pleased. Who do you think you are kidding, Mr Hitler?

All in all, an effective trailer, laced with typical QT enthusiasm. Not sure how it’ll play with everyone, but it certainly knows its target audience.