Brilliantly offbeat wartime western

Rating: 10/10 (20 September 2009)

Wow. It's been a while since I left a movie theatre so overwhelmed. From the first minute to the last this movie is shocking, amusing and horrendously entertaining all at the same time. The prologue is vintage Tarantino. The way the tension is build up throughout that opening scene is truly magnificent, and the camera pans down just at the right time. And by that time you've already learned to absolutely despise Landa, probably the most disgusting character Tarantino ever came up with. He's truly a man you love to hate, and his charming persona just makes him seem even more evil. He's if possible even more threatening than Jules Winfield was in the infamous breakfast scene from "Pulp Fiction". The segments with the basterds are probably the ones Tarantino had the most fun with, and these segments really know no boundaries in any way. Not only are they hilariously violent (the baseball bat!), they also ignore every possible historic fact. I wouldn't really want it any other way really. Another highlight is the bar scene, which illustrates perfectly how unpredictable this movie is. There are too many good moments to be naming them all, but this movie benefits so much from its outrageousness you really need to see everything for yourself.