Inglourious Basterds

I will admit - I am not a fan. I am not a Quentin Tarantino fan. But the wacky previews for this movie and the excitement of my co-workers over this release inspired me to go see it.
I guess I never got Tarantino. I saw Pulp Fiction *yawn* and part of the Kill Bill series *whatever* and was not impressed. I guess I was waiting for something to happen. I think I have found it.
Inglourious Basterds is a movie that has several feels to it. Tarantino's inspirations for his film style is always obvious and in this movie even more so. The opening of this movie segues from Spaghetti Western to Unforgiven very seamlessly and sets up the movie as going from cheesy to quality in just a conversation. He also draws on old war movies and elements of the foreign cinema. The movie is in 3 languages and some segments have no English in them at all (be warned if you don't like subtitles) which leads to the foreign cinema feel.
The movie is broken into chapters where we meet the various characters and, in Tarantino style, we know that these characters will somehow intersect later in the movie. In the second chapter we actually meet the Inglourious Basterds lead by Brad Pitt, who is having much to good a time, as the leader of the Basterds - the previews for this movie give much of that away. But you should know that the Basterds are only one part of the movie. There are much more interesting characters like the Nazi Jew hunter played by Cannes Film Festival winner Christoph Waltz. Waltz is an absolute delight to watch as he maneuvers flawlessly through all 3 languages and in his even speaking tone invokes terror into whomever he is speaking to - he even makes his fellow Nazi's uncomfortable. Waltz's career has been 99% German cinema but I now have a feeling we will be seeing a lot more of him.
Unlike Pulp Fiction which seemed to linger and plod along too long on a character's exploits, Basterds moves through each chapter with skill and agility. When each chapter is over you will be wondering when you will see another chapter about those characters.
Another stand out is Melanie Laurent as the French Jew who has been in hiding as a cinema owner in Paris since Waltz's character killed her family 3 years earlier. Her life intersects with the Nazi, the Basterds and even the Fuhrer as the movie comes to a climax.
I have to confess, this is big, I did not see the end of the movie! I know, I know, I should have not even written the review but I had to anyway.
I watched it up until the final chapter when all the elements were coming together and I got a call from my daughter's school that her ears hurt and she was crying.
I did read the ending and it was not what I expected. But that is Tarantino. I might have to change my mind about his movies...nah.
But I do recommend this one.
MMM1/2M (out of 5 M's)