Tarantino back to his best!

Rating: 9/10 (24 November 2009)

Written and directed in his usual excellent style, this is Quentin Tarantino back to his best. You get the same dry humour, the clever direction and arty feel, and the typical soundtrack, in that you can tell from the first few bars of every song that this is a Tarantino film. Set in 1944, in Nazi-occupied France, a group of Jewish soldiers with the aim of killing as many Nazis as possible, and in the most gruesome ways, scalping them all, travel around France, creating a disturbing reputation so the Germans come to fear them. The Allies hear of Lt Aldo Raine and the Basterds and recruit them to help in the assassination of high-ranking German officials, including Hitler, at a movie premiere in Paris. Performances are fantastic all round, in particular from Christophe Waltz, playing "The Jew Hunter," Col. Hans Landa. He is extremely menacing and charming all at once. Pitt, Kruger and Laurent also play their parts with gusto. The unusual casting of Mike Myers as General Ed Fenech left me a little flummoxed. It was difficult to detach him from his comedy roles and see him playing a serious, if somewhat camp, role. It had a silly feel to it – is that what Tarantino intended? I expect so! This is a must-see and it is great to see Tarantino producing another piece of cinema history.