Quentin Tarantino's latest movie Inglourious Basterds is brilliantly bonkers.

A potent cocktail of spaghetti westerns, all your favourite war movies, and the blackest of black comedies put in a blender at high speed.

A multi-layered tale of revenge - told in five distinct but interlinked chapters - it rewrites the history of World War Two and the demise of Hitler and his Nazi henchmen.

Tarantino is madder than a box of frogs and what he has managed to achieve is his most entertaining movie to date. It is far better than any of his previous efforts including Kill Bill.

In German-occupied France, Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent) witnesses the execution of her family at the hands of cold blooded, ultra suave Nazi colonel Hans Landa (brilliantly played by Austrian actor Christoph Waltz).

Shosanna narrowly escapes and flees to Paris, where she forges a new identity as the owner and operator of a small cinema.

Elsewhere in Europe, Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) organises a group of Jewish soldiers to engage in targeted acts of violent and bloody retribution against the Nazis.


Known to their enemy as "The Basterds", Raine's squad joins German actress and undercover agent Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger) on a mission to assassinate the leaders of the Third Reich.

Their fates converge at the cinema where Shosanna is poised to carry out a revenge plan of her own, unknown to our team of Americanled assassins.

Now this is a Tarantino movie, so be prepared for some very black comedy, extraordinary film-making - and lots and lots of strong bloody, gory violence. And I mean lots!

The most enjoyable aspects of the movie include great performances by the likes of Waltz and Kruger. Indeed, they outact at every turn their more expensive American co-stars.

There are also several very funny cameos from the likes of Mike Meyers and Rod Taylor. But far and away the funniest scene in the movie is Michael Fassbender's turn as Lt Archie Hicox.

Fassbender himself told me: "Hicox is a British commando, but his real passion lies in films. He's a film critic."

His scene with the other Basterds in the bar where they are due to meet the delicious Ms Kruger is without a doubt the funniest thing I have seen all year - worth the price of admission alone.

My only gripe, and the reason it does not deserve a five-star rating, is that at 152 minutes the movie is too long. But thoroughly enjoyable and a real return to form for Tarantino.

Inglourious Basterds

**** 18

Worth watching? Of course, it's QT back to his best

Webwatch www.inglourious.basterds-movie.com