War has never been so much fun

Rating: 8/10 (3 August 2009)

Inglourious Basterds is a funny, bold and very well-acted tale about a group of Jewish-American soldiers targeting Nazis in France during World War II. I'd say it's easily Tarantino's best since Pulp Fiction, and contains his trademark mix of serious violence, off-key comedy, and hair-raising drama.
It's also fuelled by Tarantino's favourite theme of revenge. The central characters are the highlight, and very well drawn; particularly the German Colonel Hans Landa, who's a mix of Hans Gruber and Dr, Evil. Equally standout is Brad Pitt's no nonsense Lt. Aldo Raine replete with thick southern accent, whose deadpan humour and stoicism run-up nicely against the film's macabre tone.
It's a long and dialogue-heavy film and some scenes run well beyond modern cinematic time norms, echoing the pace of 70s classics such as The Dirty Dozen or Bridge Over The River Kwai. It's also divided up into sequential chapters separating out characters' lives, but tells a story in a coherent way Kill Bill didn't.
There are a couple of scenes that are very long (particularly the basement rendezvous set-up) but they sort of torture with their tension and you remain hooked in. At times Inglourious Basterds is very violent and comically so, and that will turn some people off. It's also sort of flippant about serious themes (in the same way Guy Ritchie treats his subjects) and that might also bother some. Personally I laughed at the outrageous breaking of taboos and remixing of history and so did the audience. Tarantino shows in this film how much mastery he has in the difficult job of mixing the grotesque and the comedic.
There are also some nice, wry post-modern touches such as a film critic being recruited as an assassin. In Inglorious Basterds he does what he does best – great characters in extreme environments doing mad things in a funny and violent fashion Finally, the ending is excellent. Masterpiece indeed. I'd happily watch it again.
This was shown as a preview in London and Tarantino did a Q&A afterwards.