Has there ever been a writer/director that has garnered such a profound love hate relationship with the viewing public in cinema history as Quentin Tarantino? Perhaps, but none come to mind as quickly as he during the last couple of decades. From what I can gather, the consensus is that either you love his films or you hate them. But it is hard to argue that he has a style all his own. From his use of music and intertwining plotlines, he loves to play with certain cinematic genres and bring a modern twist to them as was clearly evident with his Kill Bill Vols. 1 and 2. Basically meshing a live action type Japanese anime with an American western, he does not shy away from the use of graphic violence. With an expert assassin wielding a samurai sword hell bent on seeking revenge on the ones that wronged her, you know heads and limbs are going to fly..and they do but done in such a “cartoonish” way that it makes it surreal and much easier to take for the faint of heart. But what would Tarantino do with a World War II story where any type of violence would be very difficult NOT to portray. One can only imagine what he’d do with such a subject matter. Well, Inglourious Basterds is violent, but the term violent can be very subjective and a movie can be more violent then another depending on the context for which the violence is used and shown to the audience. Is there much blood spilled in the film? Not at all, but there are some acts of violence in the film that may make you squirm in your seat, but if you can get past that, well there is wonderful, fictional story to behold. The opening sequence, set in a quaint French country home at the beginning of the German occupation of France, is one of pure brilliance. It is so well acted and exudes such tension that one cannot help but be drawn in. Here we are introduced to the antagonist Col. Hans Landa of the SS played by Christopher Waltz and who I came to regard as the show stopper of the film. While Brad Pitt is the marketing force and face of Basterds, and does give a decent performance (he is used mainly for comic relief though out the film and does not have a big of a role as you would assume), it is Mr. Waltz’s performance that will long be remembered when the credits role. Essentially the movie is another Tarantino style revenge plot about a young woman, Shosanna (well played by Melanie Laurent), whose family is killed at the fate Nazi machine guns for being of Jewish faith. Later in her life, and now the owner of a movie theatre in Paris, Shosanna under an alternate identity, catches the eye of a Nazi war hero who also happens to be an actor. Smitten with her, this war hero, Pvt Fredrick Zoller (Daniel Bruhl), wants to use her cinema as the location for the premiere of his new film and helps convince the director of the film, Joseph Goebbels (Hitler’s right hand man), to screen it there. Little does the SS know, Shosanna has some big plans for this glorious premiere. Meanwhile, a group of Jewish soldiers called the Basterds, captained by a Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt), are causing havoc for the Nazi soldiers stationed in France. They mean to kill all Nazis they come across and to brutally ravage their bodies to send a direct message to Hitler and his high ranking officials. Upon getting knowledge of this “war hero ” German propaganda film, the Basterds seek the perfect opportunity to crash the premiere and take out all the Nazi VIPs at once. But of course it is not as easy as it seems and there are many twists and surprises to behold. There are a few downsides to this Tarantino experience as I felt there were a few scenes (chapters) that were too drawn out (word of caution, although I applaud Tarantino for having the actors speak in their official languages and not turn it into a English only movie, there are scenes where the dialogue comes at you quickly and the subtitling just as quick, it could be tough for some to keep up), but overall the acting was excellent, especially the main leads. The story, as always with a Tarantino script, comes to a fun, wild end that is shocking yet gratifying. The casting was really smart and well done to bring on star power such as Pitt and then to compliment him with superb, little known in North America, European actors to give a purely authentic feel. Definitely worth your time and money even if you are not an absolute fan of Quentin Tarantino’s films, however, if you are one who completely dislikes his films chances are you will continue to do so with this one. I for one can’t wait for the Blue Ray of this film to add to my collection,… now if only they’d release Pulp Fiction in Blue Ray……