Tarantino's best

Rating: 10/10 (5 November 2012)

Inglourious Basterds is set in Nazi-occupied France and is about a group of American soldiers called the Basterds working behind enemy lines, killing and scalping as many Nazis as possible. Their leader is lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), a man who for example likes to carve swastikas to the heads of Nazis (he usually lets one go to tell the story of the Basterds). In 1944 the allied forces plan "Operation Kino", an operation where most of the Nazi high command is killed during the presentation of a new movie. The Basterds are ordered to execute this important operation. The theater where the presentation is being held is owned by Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) a French Jew whose family had been killed by SS colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) and is planning to burn the cinema down during the same presentation to kill the Nazi high command. But then something shocking happens: Hitler decides to attend the presentation.
The reason why this movie that is so good is the script. It's a very original story that feels like it couldn't have been written by anyone else than Quentin Tarantino. The dialog is sharp, the characters are interesting (except a couple of characters could have been developed a bit more) and the way that Tarantino keeps what is happening unrealistic in a way that it still doesn't feel like a joke is great . Especially the character of Hans Landa is extremely well written.
The second great thing about this movie is the acting. Christoph Waltz clearly gives the best performance as the charming but scary Hans Landa. I also think it's the best performance by a supporting actor that year. But the rest of the cast is really good as well, especially Mélanie Laurent, Daniel Brühl and Diane Kruger. But those performances are a bit less showy than the performance that Waltz gives.
The film is also well directed by Tarantino with some great directorial choices that make the film more than just a movie with a good script. The look of the film is also very good: the cinematography is very good and the production and costume design are just like what they're supposed to be.
As a whole Inglourious Basterds is a great entertaining film with an excellent script, great acting and directing, good cinematography and design. The final line of the movie feels like Tarantino is saying that this is his masterpiece. Whether it is that depends on the viewer. I personally think that this is Tarantino's best but this is coming from someone who has yet to see Reservoir dogs, Pulp fiction, Kill Bill vol. 1 and Death proof (although I don't think the last one is going to be that good). But I do think that Inglourious Basterds is one of the best movies of 2009.