Film Rating: A+

The first time I watched Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction, I was blown away...sort of. When the credits rolled, I sat there scratching my head and thinking "What the hell did I just watch?" It's a movie that takes a long time to digest, and multiple viewings to even begin to understand what it's all really about. I now realize that Pulp Fiction is a masterpiece, one of the brightest jewels given to us by the nineties, but I wasn't thinking that as soon as the movie ended.

Inglourious Basterds is the real deal, a movie that blew me away right from the get go. This is a film that requires multiple viewings, that's a given, but it doesn't take a whole thought of thought processing to realize that this movie is a genuine masterpiece. In my mind, it's every bit as strong a film as Pulp Fiction, if not better in some ways. Quentin Tarantino hasn't made a classic Tarantino flick (funny how "Tarantino flick" was so definable after only his first two films) in a while, but Basterds is a return to form. And if I may say so, it's a glourious return to form.

Like all of Tarantino's movies, much of what you see on screen are homages to films that inspired the director, but Basterds is still amazingly original. The homage is there to strengthen some of the meaning and, on a more superficial level, entertain fellow film buffs, but it never overpowers the narrative or drives the movie. It's subtle (usually) and doesn't distract, which is in some ways a maturation for the director.

That said, of all Tarantino movies, this one falls closest to Pulp Fiction stylistically-characters are introduced, disappear for long stretches of time as we meet other characters, and long, real-time conversations drive the movie. But that's just the style-otherwise, this is unlike anything Tarantino has ever done, and more original than most films you'll see this year.

There are many plot threads-the one the public is most familiar with is the basterds themselves, led by Brad Pitt as Lt. Aldo Raine. The marketing has advertised this as a Brad Pitt action vehicle, but it's certainly not that. He and his team are a small part of a bigger story, part of which involves a plot to assassinate leaders of the National Socialist Party, including Hitler himself. I won't divulge any more-for once, misleading marketing has made the movie much more enjoyable. There's so much to discover that isn't given away in the trailers, which is a genuine rarity today.

The film is split into five chapters, each centering on a different set of characters and a different situation. In fact, most of the chapters play stylistically like Reservoir Dogs, only in a smaller form. They usually take place on one or two sets, feature mostly dialogue, and could be easily translated into one-act plays.

And that's what makes the movie so brilliant. Much of the film simply revolves around characters sitting around and talking, often not about anything relevant. But Tarantino is such a good writer, and the cast is so pitch-perfect, and the camera-work is so precise, that these are truly edge-of-your-seat sequences. Logically, we know something has to happen, and each word brings us closer to that. No other filmmaker can build tension like this simply through speech-it's just astounding. That's a trademark of Tarantino, but he's truly perfected it for Basterds.

Each of these conversations introduces us to characters or allows us to get to know them better, while simultaneously putting together the puzzle that is the film's climax. The first hour-and-a-half is a jumble of seemingly unrelated events, but when we see how everything gets connected...it's just brilliant, but not in an overt way. It feels natural. Hell, it even feels plausible, and given the film's surprise ending, that's high praise indeed.

Throughout the movie, there are plenty of laughs-mostly coming from Brad Pitt-but there's also plenty of dark atmosphere, the aforementioned tension, and even some powerful imagery. An amazingly realized shot in the climax stands out as one of the most moving images I've seen all year.

It's the cast that brings Tarantino's excellent writing to life, and what a cast he's assembled this time around. The SAG awards have a trophy for "Best Ensemble," which they usually give to their favorite movie, ignoring the cast component. Well, if that trophy was to be given out seriously, Basterds would win hands down. This is the definition of the word ensemble, and no role is miscast nor does any performance underwhelm. It's a flawless set of actors.

Brad Pitt's screen time is much more limited than you'd think, but he leaves quite an impression. Pitt is totally devoted to the role, but he's also having fun with it, and that fun translates to the viewer. Every moment he's on screen is incredibly entertaining. But the best actor in the film is Cristoph Waltz as Hans Landa, a.k.a. "The Jew Hunter." This is a villainous performance for the ages, but one performed with a bigger grin that The Joker. Waltz performs in four different languages, and is just as effective in each. He won Best Actor at Cannes and he certainly deserves consideration come Oscar time. Melanie Laurent is one of the film's most surprising finds as Shosanna, a Jew seeking revenge for the death of her family. She's excellent, and her performance (spoken entirely in French) is often quite moving. She's the heart and soul of the film. The cast also includes Diane Kruger, Mike Meyers, Eli Roth, B.J. Novak, and a whole slew of amazing foreign actors. As I said, flawless.

This isn't a horribly violent movie, but when the violence comes it does make you squirm-however, it never goes too far. Many have dismissed Tarantino as a gore-hound, but that's never really been true, and in Basterds, he proves that a little bit can go a long way. It's almost more psychological than visual, because it's the excellent build-up that makes things feel real, not necessarily the images themselves. Technically, District 9 was a much more gory film than this, and if that film had one problem, it's that the amount of violence on display dumbed down its power. Basterds features little violence, but when it comes, it leaves a mark, and that's the sign of expert filmmaking.

Everything comes together perfectly in Inglourious Basterds. The writing, the casting, the gorgeous cinematography, the music (culled from many other film soundtracks), and so much more. I loved pretty much everything about it-every moment rang true. I really do need to see it again to digest it all, but my first impression is that this is Tarantino's best work-and yes, I'm allowed to say that ( Pulp Fiction rocks but it isn't sacred territory)-the last line of the film even hints that Tarantino agrees with my assessment. As a huge Tarantino fan, this might be my favorite movie of the year so far-it's the not the best movie of 2009 (there's a difference between what's best and what becomes a personal favorite), but I'll be damned if it isn't the most satisfying 150 minutes of cinema in the last 8 months. See it, love it, bask in it, but leave the history books at home, because the misspelling of words in the film's title is, in my estimation, a metaphor for the entire plot.