Brad Pitt stars as the off-the-wall leader of a bunch of wartime Jewish-Americans, out to scalp and kill Nazi scum
Brad Pitt stars as the off-the-wall leader of a bunch of wartime Jewish-Americans, out to scalp and kill Nazi scum.
Quentin Tarantino worked on the script for this World War Two black comedy-cum-thriller for more than a decade and fans of the maverick director should be grateful for his persistence, as it proved to be one of his most successful movies both critically and at the box office.
Pitt gets top billing, but the film’s stand-out star is Christoph Waltz, whose silkily menacing Oscar-winning performance as an evil Nazi officer is gloriously chilling. You just can’t wait to see him meet a sticky end, although it takes a while since the film runs to more than two-and-a-half hours.
Also excellent are Diane Kruger as a German film actress and double agent and Mélanie Laurent as a young Jewish Frenchwoman who runs the Paris cinema where the whole ensemble cast, including Martin Wuttke’s Hitler and Sylvester Groth’s Goebbels, gather for a fiery finale.
Tarantino has conjured up a fabulously stylish film that is great fun for grown-ups. Tense, funny, clever and exciting, not to mention very gory in places, it’s a hugely entertaining movie, and one of the director’s best films.
