I wouldn’t call myself a huge Quentin tarantino fan.  I thought Reservoir Dogs was ok, Pulp Fiction is a classic and Kill Bill was terrible.  I think a lot of people/critics just say they love his films because they feel like they have to, that it’s “cool” to like tarantino films.  I don’t agree, I think he has had one great film, one decent film and two bad films.  Don’t even get me started on Grindhouse.

I will say one thing for him though, he makes his own films, his own way, with his own style.  If you see some of his work on TV whether its one of the films or a TV show he is involved in you can instantly see his mark on it.  The way its shot, the dialogue, all unique to his style and undeniable Tarantino.

So… I’d read the reviews about Inglourious basterds online, id seen the trailer, and to be honest I had no interest in it really, it just looked like more of the same from Tarantino.  I gave it a miss and didn’t really pay it much attention, until the other night when I had a chance to watch it.

Right from the outset the film oozes tension and menace, the first scene of the film literally lasts about 15 minutes straight, all set in small farm house and is basically a conversation between the Nazi Colonel Hans Landa aka “The Jew Hunter” and a French man named Perrier LaPaditte.  Over the course of the scene the tension builds slowly until it’s almost unbearable, the two men sitting across from each other just smoking their pipes trading words.

I’m not going to give too much away if you haven’t seen the film already, so ill stop there but needless to say it does not end well!  From here we are introduced to the Basterds, a bunch of Nazi killing Jews dropped into occupied France to hunt down Nazis and leave a trail of fear and terror behind them.  As Brad Pitts, Lt Aldo Raine tells the Basterds, each one of them owes him “100 Nazi scalps”, and he wants his scalps!!

The film is violent and brutal throughout, there are some great performances in here, Pitt is great, Christopher Waltz is also worth mentioning for his Col. Hans Landa who is just pure evil and Mélanie Laurent turns in a fantastic performance as Shosanna Dreyfus, one of the survivors of a massacre of Jews by Col Landa.

The film keeps you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end, it is beautifully shot in all respects, Quentin really knows how to write dialogue and it’s no exception here, some of the scenes are so full of tension between characters you could cut through it with a machete.

I was pleasantly surprised to be honest I wasn’t expecting much from this one, but it turns out to be a really great movie.  Time will tell if I prefer this one to Pulp Fiction, we will have to see how it holds up over time but it is defiantly right up there beside it now in my book.  I cannot recommend this one enough, it had me glued to the screen from beginning to end and that’s saying a lot considering its running time is 2 and a half hours!  Entertaining from the start, so don’t let that run time turn you off.

It does take a few liberties with historical accuracies, if that kind of stuff gets to you.  It didn’t bother me to be honest.  In fact I kind of enjoyed it!  To wrap up, this is probably one of the best films I have seen this year, it snuck up on me and hit me over the head with a baseball bat, I was not expecting to enjoy it as much as I did.  So, if you haven’t already, check out the ‘Basterds for some Nazi Killin.

Inglourious Basterds is out on DVD and BluRay around the 14^th of December.

I’m giving this one top shatner heads! 5 out of 5!!

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