Ultra-violent version of 'Allo 'Allo.

Rating: 9/10 (22 October 2009)

I, like many others, had been waiting in feverish anticipation for Inglourious Basterds ever since I heard the words "Tarantino" and "WW2″ in the same sentence. It's like two foods that really shouldn't go together but you know will be a taste sensation when they are combined. I also had a sneaking suspicion that, being penned by Tarantino, it wasn't quite going to be the Dirty Dozen/men on a mission WW2 films that you'd watch on a Sunday afternoon with your dad.
I also had to temper my excitement once I cast my mind back to Tarantino's most recent efforts. Kill Bill was enjoyable but disappointing and Death Proof, despite having a rollicking car chase to close the film, was as messy as the car crashes it depicts. What would Inglourious Basterds be then, given this recent form? Well, it's his best film since Pulp Fiction for one and two, it's an incredibly original take on what is a heavily overused period setting. It's not without flaws however, so I'll get them out of the way before carrying on.
It's still self indulgent and character development is at a low (except for the hilarious, if a little Rob Brydonesque, Colonel "Jew Hunter" Landa played by the outstanding Christoph Waltz), which is surprising given that the entire film plays out as a series of dialogue driven vignettes.
Minor quibbles aside however, this film is fantastic fun. Yes, it's heavy on the talking but who cares when the words being spoken are so brilliant? And the way Tarantino cleverly uses dialogue to build up an agonising sense of tension before erupting into scenes of ultra-violence is more of a roller-coaster than any action piece. Throughout the opening scene you can feel the sense of dread slowly building and it's a theme present throughout. But at no times does the slow-drip of suspense ever get boring or, for that matter, slow. On the contrary, the story, and its numerous strands, speeds along nicely to its explosive culmination.
The usual Tarantino signatures are there: chaptered story telling, anachronistic music and voice overs, his movie universe and film references every five minutes. But it's all welcome.
Meanwhile, the actors do they're jobs very well. Brad Pitt is predominantly all funny accents and strained expressions but it works (Italian in a thick Tennessee accent? brilliant), Michael Fassbender has an upper lip stiffer than a corpse that delivers one of the film's best lines and even Diane Kruger is good.
In the final line of the film it is quite clear that Tarantino is speaking through his characters denouncing Inglourious Basterds as his magnum opus. Not quite but it's great to see him back on form.