Initial reaction: surprise, pleasure and disappointment.

Rating: 7/10 (16 August 2009)

I just got back from watching the uk preview. It is certainly a very interesting film, and absolutely nothing like the trailer suggested. I'll avoider spoilers, but it is worth pointing out that the eponymous 'basterds' are hardly in the film, and it doesn't really follow their exploits. In fact the bulk of the film is based around a revenge story for a female jew who's family has been massacred by the nazi's.
Tarantino displays several styles. The much-emphasized contemporary-western style all but disappears after the first, brief chapter. His nouvelle vague influences return with full force, as do his 70s-inspired ott gimmicks, and their are traces to all his previous films here. Personally I'm not sure they all fit, and I didn't feel the film always knew where it was going.
The pro's. The film has two utterly excellent scenes, the first is the opening 20 minute scene of the film involving a french farmer and a nazi commander, the second involving a secret meeting between allies in a tavern basement. Both are tense, thrilling, and beautifully shot and acted. Another brief standout scene is the introduction of the Basterds as a tale retold be a survivor. Also, Mélanie Laurent gives a brilliant performance throughout, with only a bit of corny dialogue later on as she transforms into 'the bride' character, stilted dialogue and all. Secondly, Christoph Waltz is very good as the films central antagonist, and who you get the feeling Tarantino is rooting for all along.
The con's. Firstly, Tarantino has replaced his own inappropriate cameos with a new one, Eli Roth's poor acting stands out throughout the movie and really serves as an unnecessary distraction. Secondly, the film has no real focus, it is a collection of quite-long scenes, held together entirely by coincidence, which seem to come and go with no real connection to those before or after. Perhaps this is due to the third problem, the film seems to have a LOT missing. Only two of the Basterds get any development, and this is minimal. We don't know where any of the films character come from or what motivated them, even those who the film highlights. The film's two main plots never really come together, and the films climax is explosive, but not particularly gratifying (although others may disagree with this).
As much as I enjoyed Kill Bill, Tarantino seems unwilling to return to the kind of easy naturalism and character development that made his first two films so exceptional. His style is very deliberate, but for me it often seems like he's trying too hard. More akin to Jackie Brown (as I remember it at least) this film is uneven, with some incredible scenes and some great characters, but a lot of inappropriate gimicky cheese and underdeveloped ideas too.
I'm sure many will love this film, and given times and multiple viewings, I may do too. But initial reactions on first viewing are certainly uneven.