Inglourious Basterds Limited Edition 4K Review

Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino’s 2009 “remake” of the 1978 film The Inglorious Bastards. Tarantino’s film is very loosely influenced by the original, using it more as a launching pad for his alternate history tale of multiple plots that eventually come together in an operatic orgy of violence.

A group of Jewish American soldiers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), are on a mission in occupied France during World War II – their mission? Kill Nazis. Kill a lot of Nazis. The infamous band of soldiers become known by the Germans as “The Bastards” for their brutal assaults, which include scalping their victims and beating soldiers to death with a baseball bat. Their paths converge with a French Jewish cinema owner, Shoshanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent), who has been living clandestinely under the noses of the Nazis but is now planning to burn down her cinema as all the Nazi leadership convene in her cinema for a major premiere. This also happens to coincide with the Bastards separate plan with British military intelligence to bomb the cinema.

This film marked a turn in Tarantino’s filmmaking career, where he moved on from hard pulp or grindhouse of Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill, into the sort of historical dark comedy, alternate history drama, with a little less reliance on reversing the order of the story arc. Films such as this one, Django Unchained, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood fall into this era. Despite less trickery with the linearity of the plot, Tarantino still shows a mastery of combining multiple subplots and weaving flashbacks into the present and having it all make sense. The film begins with a “flashback” sequence of the tragedy Shoshana’s family, before we jump forward, and jump forward again. The multiple plots connect with ease and without seeming strained.

Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz, who plays a particularly weaselly Nazi Col. Hans Landa, nicknamed “the Jew Hunter,” are the undeniable standout performers in this film. Pitt is hilarious and absolutely in character. One forgets it is Pitt as it is with Waltz who is believably detestable and comically villainous.

The Video

The 2.39:1 HEVC 2160p (4K UHD) HDR10 encodement of Inglourious Basterds is taken from the 2K digital intermediate master provided by NBC Universal. The transfer looks basically the same as the previous 4K release from Universal. Some people have issues with this disc, but to me it looks incredibly good. Sure, it is not a native 4K scan, but it looks crispy and colorful and is free from noise and any sort of AI peculiarities such as we have seen in some recent restorations.

The Audio

The 4K disc of Inglourious Basterds comes with lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and uncompressed LPCM 2.0 stereo mixes. The 5.1 mix is rollicking, but well balanced, with excellent extension into the low frequencies. The anachronistic songs that are used have good air and stereo imaging, and the mids are punchy. This is a really fun and entertaining mix.

The Supplements

If you have owned Inglorious Basterds on 4K before from Universal, probably the biggest upgrade you will get from buying this Arrow Video edition is the wonderful packaging, added collectible content, and new featurettes and audio commentary from Tim Lucas. Archive features are also included.

Limited Edition Contents:

• Limited edition ‘Operation Kino’ packaging with new art by Dare Creative
• 60-page ‘Films & Filmmakers’ collector’s book with writing by film critics Dennis Cozzalio and Bill Ryan
• Double-sided fold-out poster
• Replica Nation’s Pride Premiere programme booklet
• La Louisianne beermat
• 3 postcard sized double-sided art cards
• Strudel recipe card
• Reversible sleeve with original and newly commissioned artwork by Dare Creative

Bonus Features:

• Audio commentary by film critic and author Tim Lucas

Bonus Features Blu-ray Disc:

• What Would Sally Do? (1080p; 0011:08) – Assistant editor to Sally Menke on Kill Bill, Fred Raskin has edited all of Quentin Tarantino’s films since Menkin’s passing in 2010. In this exclusive interview, Raskin talks about cutting Tarantino. Filmed for Arrow Video in 2024.
• Doomstruck (1080p; 00:11:24) – An interview with actor Omar Doom who played PFC. Omar Ulmer. Filmed exclusively for Arrow Video in 2024.
• Blood Fiction (1080p; 00:2:14) – Special Makeup Effects Supervisor Greg Nicotero of KNB Effects, discusses his work on Inglorious Basterds. Filmed exclusively for Arrow Video in 2024.
• Making it Right (1080p; 00:22:04) – A visual essay by film critic Walter Chaw on the kindness of Quentin Tarantino. Recorded exclusively for Arrow Films in 2024.
• Film History on Fire (1080p; 00:19:49) — A visual essay by film historian, curator, and critic, Pamela Hutchinson. Recorded exclusively for Arrow Films in 2024.
• Filmmaking in Occupied France (1080p; 00:15:42) – French film scholar Christine Leteux, author of Continental Films: French Cinema Under German Control talks about the French film industry during the occupation. Recorded exclusively for Arrow Films in 2024.
• Archive Extras:
  • Roundtable Discussion
  • Nation’s Pride
  • The Making of Nation’s Pride
  • The Original Inglorious Bastards
  • A Conversation with Rod Taylor
  • Rod Taylor on Victoria Bitter
  • Quentin Tarantino’s Camera Angel
  • Hi Sallys
  • Extended and Alternate Scenes
  • Film Poster Gallery Tour with Elvis Mitchell
• Trailers:
  • Trailer 1
  • Trailer 2
  • Trailer 3
  • Trailer 4

The Final Assessment

This is a great film from Tarantino that gets better with each watch. Admittedly, the first time I saw Inglourious Basterds years ago I was not as impressed because I was expecting more Kill Bill or something along that line. The film has grown on me over the years just as Tarantino has grown. This is a superb release from Arrow for its included extras and packaging, but the A/V quality is more of a sideways upgrade. Recommended.

Inglourious Basterds (Limited Edition) is out on 4K Ultra HD January 14, 2025 from Arrow Video

• Rating Certificate: R (for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality)
• Studios & Distributors: Universal Pictures | The Weinstein Company | A Band Apart | Studio Babelsberg | Visiona Romantica | Arrow Video
• Director: Quentin Tarantino
• Written By: Quentin Tarantino
• Run Time: 153 Mins.
• Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1
• Video Format: HEVC 2160p (4K UHD)
• HDR Format: HDR10
• HDR10 Metadata:
  • MaxLL: 1000 nits
  • MaxFALL: 478 nits
  • Max. Luminance: 1000 nits
  • Min. Luminance: 0.0000 nits
  • Primary Audio: English DTS-HD MA 5.1
  • Secondary Audio: LPCM 2.0 Stereo
  • Subtitles: English SDH