Right time for another movie review and this is a more recent one as I finally got round to seeing Quentin Tarantino's lastest film, Django Unchained, so here's what I think of it...
So the film is back in 1858 in the America deep south, back in the time of the black slaves, and the story centres around one of the slaves, Django (Jamie Foxx) who has been sold into slavery and been separated from him wife. Django however is soon freed by a passing German bounty hunter, Dr King Schultz (Christophe Waltz), as he reveals he knows the whereabouts of a gang he has a bounty on. Schultz kills one of the Speck brothers, who hold the slaves and let's the remaining slaves kill the other. Schultz leaves with Django and under his wing he trains Django in becoming a bounty hunter, and he soon decides to help Django get his wife back, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) who has been held as a slave. Schultz and Django soon learn of Broomhilda's whereabouts as she is being held by her owner, Calvin Candie (Leonardo Di Caprio) who is the owner of Candyland, which is plantation where slaves are forced to fight to the death in Mandingo fights. And from here the two men travel to find Calvin and also to find Django's wife in order to save her from her cruel life of slavery.
While I wouldn't rate this as one of his very best films, Django Unchained definitely still has a lot going for it, as with each film Tarantino does a different genre, and this being his western, he certainly has done a fine job. Characterisation has always been a strength of Tarantino's and he does a fine job here with the characters, Django being the somewhat cold and very unforgiving protagonist who has endured a brutal life of slavery, and Dr King Schultz who despite his cool laid back and intellectual nature is also a natural killer, but at the same time he comes from a place where he is shocked to witness the harsh American lifestyle. The film also doesn't shy away from its harsh depiction of the times and the terrible brutality that the slaves had to endure at the hands of the white men. However the film in fine tradition doesn't stop at poking fun at some of the themes of the time, particularly in taking the piss of the Ku Klux Klan and a group of Klan members, try to wear their sheets, but they struggled to see out of them, and end up arguing with one another and throwing them off!
Getting onto the perfomances they are all pretty much top drawer, with Jamie Foxx putting in a fine and at times subdued performance as the cool, tormented and deatched Django, who is on a mission to find his slaved wife. One of his best lines comes when he and Schultz ride into a town and they all looked in total surprise at seeing Django riding, and Schultz asks why they are staring and Django replies "cos they ain't never seen a nigger on a horse before!". Christophe Waltz once again in a Tarantino delivers a terrific performance as Schultz, the surprisingly sympathetic bounty hunter, who frees Django and helps him to find his wife. One of the Waltz's best scenes is where he is haunted by the memories of witnessing a black slave being torn apart by one of Calvin's dogs, and he confronts Calvin over the incident and he refuses to shake his hand over the deal they have done. Samuel Jackson also puts in an amusing but at the same time menacing performance as Calvin's old grumpy senior house slave, Stephen, and his make up is actually very good and at first you wouldn't actually even recognise him! Kerry Washington also delivers a subtle performance as the long suffering slave and Django's wife, Broomhilda, and it would hard not to feel for her when see what she has endured at the hands of her masters.
But for me the performance of the film belongs to Leonard Di Caprio as Calvin Candie, who is simply superb in his role as the charming yet brutal plantation owner, and for me this is the best one of his career so far. Di Caprio's best scene in the film comes when (PLOT SPOILER!) he discovers that Django and Schultz aren't what they appeared to be, and forces them to sit at his dining table, and he shows them a skull of an african american slave, which he saws open! In fact in retrospect, I think the best supporting actor academy award really belongs to Di Caprio's work in the film as he is simply outstanding here, and if he is to deliver a finer performance (which he just might in the future) it would be tough to beat this one.
The film of course does have some flaws, the main one probably being the film's length as just over 2 hours and 40 minutes it is a bit too long, and the film starts off a bit slow before it moves up a gear and it could have benefited from being a bit shorter. The violence in the film is also at times a bit disconcerting as Tarantino, who is never one to flinch away from making violent films, really does subject you to the brutality of the times, with the torture the slaves endured. Also the gunplay and general violence is also pretty strong, and Tarantino, rather amusingly I must admit, can't resist in spraying blood all over the screen during the bloody gunfights. I also felt the end sequence while it was ok and gave the film a reasonable resolution, it also left me a bit cold at Django's unreserved sociopathic behaviour as he shows the full extent of his revenge. But that is what Tarantino does I guess, in making uncompromising films.
Regardless of that though Tarantino has made a fine film in Django unchained, and once again his writing is really good and technically as a filmmaker he continues to show his technical skill, and a special nod also deserves to go out to Robert Richardson's brilliant and stunning cinematography. Tarantino who always makes great use of existing songs, provides another fine soundtrack selection, as he uses the main 1966 "Django" theme tune, as well as some classic pieces from classic composers such as Jerry Goldsmith and Ennio Morricone.
So that's it for my look at Django unchained, which is a fine Tarantino film, which makes for an entertaining and at times uncomfortable watch, but if you like Tarantino then this is well worth checking out.
And with that, I shall leave it there.
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