In 1941 Nazi-occupied France, "The Jew Hunter" SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) finds the Dreyfus family hidden by their neighbors. Shosanna Dreyfus (Mélanie Laurent) escapes after her family is massacred. Meanwhile Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) has gathered 8 Jewish American soldiers to kill Nazis behind enemy lines. Their brutal scalping campaign instills fear among the Germans. Donowitz (Eli Roth) is even given a nickname "The Bear Jew" for brutally beating Nazis with a baseball bat. Then in June 1944, Shosanna has a new name and a theater. She catches the eye of German war hero Fredrick Zoller who wants a big premiere in her theater that will attract the biggest of Nazi leaders. It even attracts the Jew Hunter as well as the Inglourious Basterds.

Christoph Waltz is great as the cold menacing well-mannered Nazi. He is completely engrossing in every one of his scenes. Every word he speaks is dripping with menace. His scenes are quiet and some of the most compelling parts of the movie. Then Quentin Tarantino has injected his brutal violence into this Jewish revenge fantasy. It is nothing less than audacious and uniquely original.

No joke – I believe this film to be Tarantino's best yet. The movie has its naysayers, but I see this as the epitome of movie-making: a literate, intelligent film, beautifully shot from an excellent and original script. You might be forgiven for thinking that little more needs to be said about the Second World War, but you'd be wrong, as this outing shows: it's as fresh as a field full of daffodils in the springtime. I knew I was in for some fun with the opening sequence, in which spaghetti western style music riffs on an old classical piece and builds up the tension as Nazi officer arrives to question a remote French farmer.

From then on in, we're involved in a film which uses long scenes of dialogue and character interaction as a way to build the utmost suspense. Suspense plays a big part in this film's effectiveness, and nowhere else is it better than in the basement bar sequence around halfway through: this 20-minute segment is one of my favourite scenes in a film, where great direction, scripting, and acting all combine to make a masterful moment. The cast is excellent: Brad Pitt and Eli Roth headline the titular squad of soldiers, on hand to lend some much needed humour (usually of the pitch-black variety) to the film, while Diane Kruger shows how much she's matured as an actress by playing a double agent. Michael Fassbender reminds us why he's a rising star with his turn as British officer Archie Hickox, and even a cameoing Mike Myers doesn't ruin things. Only Tarantino would cast the long-forgotten Rod Taylor as Churchill, but it's a move that pays off.

In the end, though, it's the unknown European actors who really make this work. Christoph Waltz deserves his Oscar as the impeccably mannered Nazi officer, an utterly horrifying creation; Melanie Laurent delights by providing the movie's emotional core. And the little turns, from Til Schweiger's psychotically vengeful German soldier to August Diehl's slimy SS officer, are also perfectly judged. Throw in some snippets of outrageous violence to break the tension, add in a bravura climax that, for once, doesn't let the viewer down, and you have a film that's quickly become a new favourite of mine.

This must be said first and foremost--if you HATE violent films, then don't watch this film. The film is filled with ultra-violent images that will turn your stomach--scalpings, machine gunnings, fire bombs roasting crowds of people and the like. My assumption, and I am NOT trying to be sexist, is that in general guys will like it more than women--though I know that there are man exceptions. If you look at the demographic breakdown on IMDb of votes, this doesn't reveal any difference between men and women...unless you look carefully. You'll see that men have outvoted women 10-1! It is, simply put, a "guy film".

Second, the film has almost nothing to do with the original "The Inglorious Bastards: (1978)--other than the fact they were both about American soldiers fighting the Nazis. Both are very good and in a homage to the original, director Tarantino cast Bo Svenson (from the original film) in a role in the accompanying DVD extra "Nation's Pride". This new version is more like a Spaghetti Western than the earlier film--complete with music in many places of the film that would have worked great in a Sergio Leone movie.

Third, although Tarantino did NOT mean for this to be realistic in the least, I hope that you don't believe that this is in any way based on history. Sure, there are some similarities, but so much of it is pure fantasy. There was no such military group like the "Basterds" and American soldiers did not do what these guys did! Heck, they made the "Dirty Dozen" look like pacifists!! And, unless you are a total idiot, you'll realize that the ending did not really occur!!

As for the plot, I'll skip discussing that as the film came out several months ago and by now lots and lots of reviewers have already discussed this to death. Instead, I'll just say what I liked. Brad Pitt was terrific in the nominal lead. While he was NOT in the film as much as you might expect, he was hilarious and I loved his accent that was highly reminiscent of George Clooney in "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". Also, the German Colonel was amazing--speaking four different languages and making a great villain. The action was great and the film very enjoyable--but not as action-packed as you might think based on the commercials. Lots of fun and an interesting film because of all it's inside jokes, references to other films and it seeming a lot like a movie serial version of WWII. Watch this one.