Well, if any word describes Tarantino, it has to be bold.
My impression is of a mixed bag. So many people have said so many good things about it - including well-respected critics - I almost feel like it is heresy to say anything bad about this. I enjoyed much of it, but so much of it seems like a mess, which I suppose was the entire point. It just seems like such a wasted opportunity, but then saying that puts you in the position of appointing yourself as someone who knows more than the "great" film director. And as the character says in the film, certain people have "respect for directors", and apparently that is a virtue.
My first clue that something might be amiss was the fact that there were four different font types/character styles in the opening credits. Maybe that isn't a big deal, but seriously - that just looked plain weird. The Monty Python arrows pointing out Bormann and Goering looked goofy too, especially since they weren't even germane to the plot, really. Killing Hitler and Goebbels really shredded any interest I had in the film after that point. The acting was so good and believable that I could have accepted everything on screen as a kitchen-sink drama despite the outlandish aspects of the film, but QT took one step too far over the brink.
And what a shame, too; these were perhaps the most believable German characters I've ever seen in a Hollywood film about the Second World War. The reluctant hero who is trying to win the heart of a girl, stationed far from home, using what he presumes is a shared interest in films and feeding off her rejection off of him. He sees a big mystery to solve and of course the rejection has the opposite effect on him - doesn't it always? The writing was brilliant. The sergeant who just a baby, whose C.O. gave him the night off to celebrate with his comrades. And especially, as all the critics have noted, the SS/SD officer who fancies himself a good detective. He has realistic motivations, impeccable manners, is well spoken and cultured, and is anything but the "cartoon villain".
I could even buy the "cartoon good guys" though I don't much go for vivid on-screen violence (I thought the violence in Pulp Fiction was far more effective since you never actually saw, for example, the sword cuts landing) and I wasn't sure what point was trying to be made. It certainly didn't make the "heroes" any more appealling, though perhaps that was indeed the point. And I think by this point, Mexican Standoff isn't so much a "trademark" as it is a "cliche".
But after saying such brilliant things about the Germans, to end the film as a really idiotic alternate history revenge fantasy seemed like a colossal letdown. The movie could have been just as effective by leaving the historical bigwigs out of the theatre; I would have cared more about what happened at the end instead of thinking I had wasted a lot of time investing in characters and situations for which there was no obvious payoff. Wasn't looking for a typical happy ending by any means, so I can't say I was disappointed by the shootout in the projectionist's booth, but there were so many really excellent scenes of genuine suspense in the movie that placing squibs in the Führer's jacket was almost as nefarious as opening up the shower curtains on Bobby Ewing.