David Wasco

A former member of an all female martial arts assassination squad is ready to retire and start life anew, but not if ex-employer, Bill has anything to do with it. He has her assassinated on her wedding (along with the all guests and the groom). Years latter she wakes from a coma with a katana-sword in her hand and revenge on her mind. Billed as a blackly-comic homage to cult-cinema of the past, the references and come so thick and fast that the movie is practicably made of them, however it won't take an observant viewer, unblinded by fanatical Tarantino fandome, to realize that this is really an homage to QT himself more than anything else. Pretentiously self-indulgent and not much fun as a result. Even the well-renown fight scenes are really mundane at best. Those unfamiliar with the films being referenced will be astonished, but those who grow up on Wuxia epics, samurai dramas and Shaw Bros productions will be left scratching their heads wondering what all the fuss is about. Due to the film's excessive length, it was split into two separate movies for it's theatrical release, resulting in a 'Vol. 2'

The movie business has never quite been the same since that former video-clerk geek and genre-loving movie maven Quentin Tarantino exploded on the scene with Reservoir Dogs. If you go strictly by the coming attractions, Inglourious Basterds might confound your expectations. Yes, Brad Pitt leads a group of Jewish soldiers who murder and scalp Nazis all over France. However, the actual graphic Nazi-killing is just the first chapter to a more conventional WWII espionage thriller. Tarantino presents a rollicking, wish-fulfillment revenge fantasy about getting Hitler that is presented with a graphic novel ambiance punctuated with moments of brilliant and far-from-cartoonish tension. The latter is most gloriously on display when Tarantino presents a bar rendezvous with three of the Basterds, the spy and a bunch of German soldiers. This is the moment when Tarantino presents one of his genre favorites, the ?Mexican standoff.? Did I mention that this movie is often hilarious? The Nazi killing scenes are designed to make you laugh and turn your head away cringing at the same time. In Tarantino terms, this movie is restrained; it hits us with the bloodletting and head bashing in small doses. It is the story, the development of the characters and the quality of the dialogue that makes Inglourious Basterds a wonderfully intriguing cinematic adventure. The most accomplished acting emanates from the urbane matter-of-fact evil presented by the amazing Waltz.

Tarantino has done a brilliant job of crafting one of the most suspenseful movies I have ever seen. I love how pieces of the puzzle throughout come together in different sequences ultimately leaving you with a feeling that everything is complete in the end. This is definitely a movie worth watching again and again. All thumbs up!!!

A long-winded and cartoony yet very compelling film. Some chapters felt plodding and maybe too dialogue laced but I was never bored. Tarantino certainly re-writes history and takes many shortcuts through reality but he does it with flare. This is a hard movie to define or summarize but I'd call it an interesting experimental cross between Pulp Fiction, The Diary of Ann Frank and some depraved Looney Tunes.

Nice movie