Quentin Tarantino and I have a love/hate relationship. The first movie of his I saw was Kill Bill on DVD. Until then, I had only passing knowledge of his name. I was unaware of his particular style, his friendship and frequent collaboration with Robert Rodriguez, or his propensity for extreme violence. I went in to Kill Bill knowing none of that and only really expecting some fantastical gore sequences.

Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to experience more films from Tarantino. I loved Kill Bill 1 and 2, was not a big fan of Death Proof, and was thoroughly confused by the popularity of Pulp Fiction. I haven’t seen Reservoir Dogs. I have, however, come to understand and appreciate his slice of film making individuality. No one can make hundreds of severed limbs as fun as he can.

I went in to Inglorious Basterds not really knowing what to expect. I figured it would be split up into his trademark chapters (it is), there would be copious amounts of bloody violence (not as much as I expected), and I figured I would at least like it.

I’m sorry Tarantino for more poor expectations.

This film rose above any and all of these expectations. I absolutely loved this film. I’ll discuss it as a movie first. As a movie, some might find Tarantino’s like of long dialogue filled scenes a tad dull. It certainly isn’t as fast paced as Transformers and it certainly doesn’t take a whole lot of thought storyline wise. But, even as a movie, I figure you’ll be clapping by the end. If not for the movie itself, then at least for the movies delicious twisting of history. Two words: Swiss cheese.

As a film, this truly sores. There are 5 chapters, each around 20-30 minutes long. They play as one-acts with very little scene changes and only the setting characters. (For example, Brad Pitt is only in 3 of the chapters.) Each chapter has its own narrative storyline while quietly advancing the overall plot. Chapter 5 really ties everything together in one neat bloody little package.

Chapter 1 is quite possibly one of my favorite scenes committed to film in the last decade. Tarantino truly excels at the written word, creating vast amounts of suspense and terror in what were basically kind words. Christoph Waltz (Col. Hans Landa, a Nazi SS Officer) steals every scene he’s in (when he’s not playing off Brad Pitt). He’s an Austrian born actor that wonderfully flows through three languages in this film effortlessly. I have a feeling we will be seeing much more of him (and a best supporting Oscar nom).

Hans Landa comes to the farm of a French diary farmer and his three daughters. The scene unfolds with Landa quizzing the farmer about the known locations of a certain Jewish family that had lived nearby before the war. Hans Landa never makes a single mean or striking statement and yet, through Tarantino’s expertly written dialogue, the sense of shear terror and suspense are palpable.

Chapter 2 introduces us to the titular Basterds; a small but merry band of Jewish boys walking the Nazi occupied country side killing and scalping them. They do this to strike fear into the hearts of the Nazi’s. And it works. The scene plays out introducing us to their ways of interrogation, beating, and finally scalping of the Nazi’s. Many expected this to be the center of the movie. I must say, I would have loved to have seen more of these characters and their story.

Every single line of dialogue (no exaggeration) out of Brad Pitt’s mouth is gold. Just wait until you hear “Bon-Jair-No.” Other notable performances from the underused Basterds are Sylar from Heroes – wait. I mean Eli Roth (seriously, look him up on imdb, he looks just like Sylar), director of the Hostel movies and Til Schweiger as the stoic and fearsome German officer turned Nazi killer Hugo Stiglitz.

Several German officers play drunken games to congratulate their friend.

I won’t spoil the rest of the movie for you (if you don’t know the end PLEASE do not look it up before seeing this movie). It’s amazing to think that Tarantino wrote, directed, edited, and released this movie in his promised 10 month time span. To release something that fast and do it amazingly well is a testament to his talent.

This is one of my favorite films of the year. I highly recommend it as a show of what is capable in Hollywood when one throws out Hollywood norms. It’s not an easy movie to sit through, nor is it anything resembling normal. But that’s Tarantino. Go see this film.

Good day, and Bon-Jair-No.