Most may assume from the trailers that Inglourious Basterds is an action-packed thriller, starring Brad Pitt whose sole purpose is killin' some Nazis. However, the film is actually Quentin Tarantino's fictional retelling of World War II in bloody - yet surprisingly narrative and romanticized - splendor. The movie focuses on two plots to assassinate Nazi Germany's political leadership. One is a violent, and often times light-hearted plot lead by the Inglourious Basterds. The second is a haunting, but elegant, revenge tale of a Jewish female cinema owner whose entire family was slain by a German patrol unit.

Quentin Tarantino has the reputation for being the pop culture-referencing, bloody Mexican stand-offing, too cool for words script-writing, director of Hollywood and Inglourious Basterds is no exception to his reputation of cinema technique. Split into five different chapters, the movie follows a specific chronological order but is somewhat unstructured. The first four chapters seem to be small plays, each fleshing out one or more characters and unveiling a new subplot to the entire story, while the fifth chapter is the most cinematic section by far. It is during the climactic fifth chapter that every plotline twists and weaves together to bring the story as a whole, to an explosive and satisfying conclusion.

While proving to be the most "movie like" part of Inglourious Basterds, the fifth chapter is a bit chaotic simply because of all the plot lines abruptly being tied off at their ends. Even though going into this movie you should not be expecting a historically accurate story; when you actually see the events unfolding on the screen, you can't help but feel a little over whelmed by how terribly, and almost laughably, inaccurate the occurring events really are. This is not necessarily a bad thing as this unconscious notion will help you enjoy the movie more as a whole, you cannot deny this “new World War II.” You will be viewing this stylized, Tarantino masterpiece wrap up before your very eyes, and the whole time you know that you are, indeed, viewing a very enjoyable piece of film making.

All issues aside, this movie sports some very impressive acting from Brad Pitt and Christopher Waltz. Waltz, a previously unknown actor to me, stands out as the best acting the movie has to offer as the devilish, serpentine, charming, witty, brutal, vile, and above all else, intimidating, Colonel Hans Landa, aka "The Jew Hunter," of the German Waffen-SS and SD. Every scene he steals entirely for himself. On screen he creates an enormous amount of mounting tension, as you have a feeling deep inside yourself that, while charming and seemingly inviting, the German detective has his own personal agenda, and what is on that said agenda is never less than atrocious.

The Basterds themselves are a band of eight American brothers, who all share a deep hatred for the Nazis. Their leader, American-man, 1st Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt), aka "Aldo the Apache" is a brilliantly portrayed character, who if put into the wrong hands could have easily turned out as an over- played and annoying starring role simply because of his dynamic, funny nature. His ominous, bloodthirsty aura goes hand-in-hand with an incredibly close-to-home accent that all Americans will find comedic.

Brad Pitt pulls off the character quite well, cracking a witticism in said, hilarious Southern American accent, and then turning around only to deliver a frightening one liner about his desire for all eight of his men to bring him “no less than one hundred Nazi scalps and how anything less is unacceptable.”

You never quite get the feeling if you should, morally, be on his side or not, as the things he suggests can often times be much more gruesome than anything any textbook Nazi has ever done. Overall the acting is top-notch and exactly what a Tarantino movie requires: smoothly delivered comedy bits, serious lines delivered with the weight of multiple worlds, and all of it topped with the perfect amount of "cool" allure bleeding through.

Unfortunately, the movie does not have many scenes which actually include the Basterds. Most of the movie is about the other countless supporting characters and their contributions to the two assassination plots, or their contribution to nothing important at all. This, however, does not make them any less important to the movie experience, but at times, scenes do tend to drag on with the not-so-important characters simply because of the expertly written dialogue which is too realistic for its own good. The Basterds make their big appearance in chapter two but fall off until chapter four, where they have a brief appearance. They then return for a big finish in chapter five, where only a handful make notable screen time.

In the end, this is a hard movie to review because of its epic length and the fact that it is a most difficult task to describe the style and polish that goes into a Quentin Tarantino film, especially one like Inglourious Basterds which has been in the making for close to ten years pre-production. This profoundly stylized of a movie is not everyone’s cup of tea. The intensive dialogue can get on peoples nerves, not to mention that most of the movie is told in another language other than English. The movie is almost entirely captioned and an estimated three fourths of the conversation occurs in either French or German dialect. Also, the script is saturated with truthfully one-dimensional characters but the conversation they share is so witty and charming it’s hard to find them unnecessary.

Certainly not an action packed and gory movie, the few violent scenes are nothing short of painfully head-turning and can leave you with your mouth agape. This movie is well worth the money for anyone looking for a very unconventional, tension-building, stylized, cinematic experience, with superb acting and superb action sequences, all set on a German-occupied French background.

If you do not like long spans of delightfully casual dialogue then you will most likely not appreciate this movie. If you can't immerse yourself well in this alternate dimension, World War II story, you will find this movie downright pitiful and if these two problems perturb you, rest assured knowing: you are not a fan of Quentin Tarantino.

The best action to take concerning Inglourious Basterds is to indulge yourself within its cozy chat’ em up scenes and over-the-top, violent thirty second brawls, and decide for yourself when you step out of the theatre if you liked it or not; the whole ordeal is recommended for its modest movie ticket price.