Inventive but unsatisfying

Rating: 6/10 (12 September 2009)

Tarantino's technically in full form here-- the sly editing, quirky dialogue, subtle suspense, endless film references etc-- but the story is ultimately a hollow revenge fantasy that, like his Kill Bill series, doesn't really add up to much.
Superficially, it's great-- funny, violent, unusual-- but as a revenge story and a commentary on war, it's empty. There are dangling endings, characters minus any kind of depth, an odd lack of any kind of emotional texture to the proceedings. Where Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction perfectly balanced real characters with a witty, unpredictable and allusive story, Tarantino here simply comes off as playing games.