Tarantino's World War II revenge fantasy packed with suspense

Guns, knives and one very special baseball bat cause plenty of mayhem in Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds." But in a twist that only Tarantino would dream up, none of those weapons packs the righteous killing power of the local movie theater.

Tarantino's love for, and unshakable faith in, the medium of film animates every frame of this long-in-the-works World War II revenge fantasy. That shouldn't surprise even casual fans of the director, because fanboyish movie-love has always burned at the center of his work. But never has the feeling been this feverish and intoxicating.

It helps that "Inglourious Basterds" is Tarantino's best movie since "Pulp Fiction." It's a raucous epic that sings with witty (and often subtitled) dialogue and some of his most accomplished storytelling. Dialogue and action are well-known Tarantino strengths, but who knew he could create such striking images, and generate such suspense?

Just don't look for a somber treatment of history here. Though dealing with historical people and events, "Inglourious Basterds" is a fairy tale; it even opens with the words "once upon a time." The film rewrites history into wish-fulfillment, much like certain 1940s comic books did when they showed Captain America punching Hitler in the jaw.

One of the many plot threads that wind together in the film focuses on "the basterds," a group of mostly Jewish-American soldiers led by country-fried Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt). Their mission couldn't be simpler: Drop into Nazi-occupied France to terrorize, kill and scalp (yes, scalp) Nazi soldiers. (Or, in the case of the soldier played by Eli Roth, beat them in the head with a bat.)

Another key story line follows Shosanna Dreyfus (Melanie Laurent), a Jewish girl who survived a Nazi attack on her family and then reinvented herself as the Gentile owner of a movie theater in Paris. Shosanna's effort to keep a low profile fails when a young German soldier (who's sweet on her) arranges for a new Nazi propaganda film to be screened at her theater for members of the S.S. high command.

Also at work here are stories about glamorous German actress Bridget Von Hammersmark (Diane Kruger), who's secretly working for the Allies, and sadistic Nazi Col. Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz), known as "the Jew Hunter," who always seems to be in the perfect spot to foil his enemies' plans.

Tarantino juggles all these story lines with a master's touch. As always, his characters talk and talk (often in different languages), but not just for the sake of cleverness. Deception drives the conversation here. Everyone is out to fool everyone else, and death is the price for failure. That's why a bravura sequence inside a French pub, one that consists almost entirely of talking, generates enough suspense to make the audience squirm.

When the talking stops and the killing starts, Tarantino delivers the goods with plenty of visual panache. He and ace cinematographer Robert Richardson evoke Sergio Leone Westerns, film noir and grindhouse action flicks as they build to the stunning climax in the movie theater - a fiery, bullet-ridden feast for the senses.

The cast is a marvel. Pitt, the only high-wattage star, has a ball with his hillbilly accent. Waltz, who picked up the acting award at Cannes, leads the stellar European contingent with his mesmerizing portrayal of Landa, the killer who never stops smiling.

I have one quibble with the film - a plot point at the end that Tarantino doesn't completely sell, which in turn leads to an unsatisfying conclusion to a key character's story. That aside, "Inglourious Basterds" is a triumph for Tarantino, a mash-up of cinematic influences that feels entirely fresh, exciting and, yes, even glorious.