Inglorius Basterds

Once upon a time in Nazi Occupied France, Quentin Tarantino made one hell of a movie.

I first heard whispers of it in 2006. Quentin Tarantino would be doing a War movie. How did i feel, chuffed? Confused? Worried Excited? Slightly Horny? Well quite frankly all of the above. Quentin Tarantino is my favourite person in Hollywood by miles, he always has been ever since i first saw resevoir dogs aged 10 and fell about laughing whenever Nice Guy said DADDY. I moved from film to film that tarantino was involved with and 9 times out of 10 i loved whatever it was, true romance, pulp fiction, desperado i would add it to my favourite films list. The extent of my Tarantino obsession came about when i was turned away at the door of the cinema opening night of Kill Bill because i was to young.

I don't think i had ever been angrier in my life. Apart from when my dad chucked my N64 in the bin perhaps.I was 14 years old. A time when most of my peers were starting to develop their relation ship with Scotland's past time. Binge drinking. An idea struck. If Thomas (A chap in my year) Really could get a fake ID for people who wanted to go to nightclubs, surely he could secure one for me. I paid 25 pounds to tha avaricious little shit Thomas for an ID that looked like he'd drawn it five minutes prior. However through some miracle when i tried it again at the Grovnor Cinema off Ashton lane, the little beauty worked. Shaking slightly from my victory i sat through probably the most enjoyable cinema experience of my life.

Not everyone liked Kill Bill. They wanted more of Samuel L Jackson Shouting MUTHA FUCKA , more of Bruce Willis killing hill billes with a mental sword and more of Micheal Madsen showing his affection for stealer's wheels big hits. They claimed Quentin had not been loyal to his fans. Not to be too offensive to those people but well fuck you, you whiny little philistine turd stains on the intellectual underpant. That is what makes Tarantino brilliant. You do not see it coming your not ready for it its new and exciting and its over waaaay to soon.

His films are Guerrilla fighters in modern cinema hitting hard and fast with great precision quickly and in surprise, and Inglorious Basterds is most definitely the commanding officer.

The film begins with a fantastic character introduction to the aptly Named "Jew Hunter". An SS officer who loves his work, and admires his prey for their purpose (making him look good). Character introduction is a strong suite of Tarantino, he always makes you like his Villains as much as his hero's and likes to keep the lines between them either very shadowy or just out right obvious.

The Basterds themselves are a Group of Jewish Soldiers who specialise in Apache tactics of fighting ie quick complete brutal destruction of their foe. They are led by Lt Al Doerain. An instant classic with quotes a plenty "You may have heard, we aint in the taking prisoners business, we're in the killing Nazis business, and cus i can tell ya, business is a booming". They are there to cause pain and complete terror amongst the ranks of the National Socialist party and my word they do it nicely with such team members as THE BEAR JEW and a homicidal Nazi hating German staff Sergent.

The directors utter and complete disdain for the third Reich comes through so forcefully even Winston Churchill would probably have said, "BITCH BE COOL". If you thought the ear scene in Dogs was brutal quite frankly you will try to gouge out your own eyes to avoid the brutality (glorious brutality) of this.

I have to admit i have very little to say about this film that is not positive, errr i guess the scene with the British officers is a bit daft and slightly offensive to the part Britain played in the war however it is clearly done for comic effect and not done to ridicule. It actually captures pretty well Britain's cavalier attitude towards warfare...damn that was supposed to be something i didn't like.

At the risk of spoiling it i really am not going to go into much detail, however i will say remember you are there to watch a film, not just to see Eli Roth and co "Fenway park" the skulls of swastika clad nob ends, it is not 2 hours of constant shooting and mauling, it does have subtitles (More than you may think) but you stop noticing them pretty durn quickly.

Go and see this film four times. Once to say you have seen it. Twice to pick up some of the quotes. Thrice to jump up and down in your seat where appropriate and the fourth time just to make sure you know who was actually that guy in the box at the end...you'll know what i mean.

(Yea and if you think your clever pointing out the historical inaccuracies of several scenes you are not clever you are a tit)

Gonzo