Inglourious Basterds (2009) * * * 1/2

Directed by:  Quentin Tarantino

Starring:  Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Melanie Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth, Diane Kruger, Mike Myers, Til Schweiger, Daniel Bruhl

Truth be told.   Upon watching Inglourious Basterds again recently, it could have been shortened by, say, 15-20 minutes.     Three scenes in particular could've been tightened:  The opening sequence with Col. Hans Landa (Waltz) interrogating a farmer suspected of hiding Jews in his home, the bar scene in which members of Operation Kino rendezvous with unforeseen consequences, and the opening of the "German Night In Paris" portion.   Each scene starts out tense, but overstays its welcome.     With those criticisms out of the way, Inglourious Basterds is Quentin Tarantino's most satisfying film.    It is a revenge fantasy in which the Third Reich ends in more spectacular fashion than what is written in the history books.     Hitler may have gotten off easy by committing suicide on April 30, 1945.    Here he is given no such choice to make.

How the Third Reich meets its demise in Inglourious Basterds involves people such as Landa, Lt. Aldo Raine (Pitt), who leads a pack of Jewish-American soldiers that ambush, kill, and scalp Nazis, and a movie theater owner (Laurent), a Jewish girl who escaped from the farm visited by Landa in the opening scene.     She shrewdly manipulates a smitten German war hero (Bruhl) into allowing her theater to show the premiere of a Nazi propaganda film based on his exploits as a sniper.     I won't reveal how all of this fits together because it would spoil some of the surprises Tarantino lays out.   

Tarantino is not afraid to be bold.   Inglourious Basterds is retelling history with more blood and sardonic humor than you may have seen in other World War II based films.      The performances are memorable, especially Pitt's and Waltz' (which won him a Supporting Actor Oscar).    Pitt chews the scenery as a Tennessee good-ol'-boy who is "in the Nazi killing business and business is a-boomin'".    His scenes involve the most humor and most savagery in the entire film.     Waltz toys with people under a guise of geniality and manners.     This hides his brutal nature as "the Jew hunter".    He acts as an executioner who promises to make things comfortable for you before you meet your maker.     Pitt and Waltz steal every scene they are in separately and together.    

We watch with glee as Hitler is driven to frothing anger by the actions of the Basterds, who terrorize Nazis in occupied France.     They leave a souvenir on the foreheads of Nazis they allow to live, which isn't many.     The plots converge on a fateful night at the movie theater where the owner has plans for the mostly German audience unrelated to what the Basterds have in store.     The flammability of old nitrate film prints plays a key part, which is something a movie buff like Tarantino would know plenty about.

Inglourious Basterds is the closest Tarantino has come in his career to being a plot-driven film.    We sense his love of war action epics, film history, and zeal for big moments all in one film.     The final line of dialogue is "Sir, this may be your masterpiece."    Tarantino may not have a masterpiece, but it's close.