INGLORIOUS BASTARDS****1/2

Watching a Quentin Tarantino film is like trying to figure out a strategic math problem. You look at it with uncertainty, go through the steps, think you have it figured out than to only realize you were all wrong….so you start over. Like any of Tarantino’s films, digesting the greatness of Inglorious Bastards is a process.

The movie begins in German-occupied France in 1941. SS Colonel Hans Landa (Christopher Waltz) arrives at the home of French dairy farmer Perrier LaPadite (Denis Menochet). In the phenomenal opening sequence, Hans tries to get Perrier to admit he is hiding the Jewish Dreyfus family. After interigation from Hans, Perrier breaks down and admits the hiding of the Dreyfus’s. Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hand of Hans and narrowly escapes.

Meanwhile, in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organizes a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in killing German servicemen. Known to their enemy as "The Basterds," Raine's squad is on a mission to take down the leaders of The Third Reich.

How the stories unfold and how the paths of Aldo and Hans intertwine is pure Tarantino and an extremely intense experience, but would you expect anything less? Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent, Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) as the story of the bastards start to cross paths with Colonel Hans. The fun in watching Inglorious Bastards or any Tarantino film for that matter, is not knowing what the hell will happen next. So with that said, I’m going to stop my synopsis of the film here.

I will say the first twenty minutes of the film were perfection, the next twenty were more confusing, after that the next twenty were entertaining and so on and so forth. However, when the climax of the story started to unravel, I was sitting at the edge of my couch completely enthralled by the conclusion.

Brad Pitt was good in this movie. Unfortunately, that’s all I can say for him because of what a remarkable supporting cast that carried this film. First and foremost, Christopher Waltz was phenomenal as Hans. His demeanor, chilling dialog and realism were everything an Oscar winning performance is made of. Bridget Von Hammersmark was stunning as the German actress. Meanwhile, Melanie Laurent executes the role of a scared young Jewish girl at the beginning of the film perfectly, then grows into a dominating woman at the end, creating an Oscar worthy performance.

I won’t lie, I’m not a Tarantino freak. I couldn’t carry a conversation about Pulp Fiction and the Kill Bill’s have since passed my mind. I will say that they were all great films. Inglorious Bastards deserves it’s position at the top of the list alongside those classics. Watch the movie once, sit on it for a couple days and watch it again, that’s what I plan on doing now.