Django Unchained

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
Django Unchained
Released 12/25/12

Quentin Tarantino returns to the director's chair this week with his slavery-era revenge western, Django Unchained.  Oscar winners Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz head an all-star cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Don Johnson, Walton Goggins, and Samuel L. Jackson.

Django Unchained is set two years prior to the Civil War.  Django (Foxx) is a slave and the current property of the Speck brothers as the film begins.  He was recently purchased by the Specks at auction after his wife, Broomhilda (Washington), and he displease their previous master.  As the brothers are transporting Django and a group of other purchased slaves across country, they encounter, Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), a German "dentist", one cold night.  Schultz is trying to locate another group of siblings known as the Brittle brothers.  When Django indicates he knows who the Brittles are and can ID them, Schultz cuts down the Specks and frees Django and the other slaves in their charge.  It seems the good doctor, in addition to being a former dentist, is also a current bounty hunter.  He offers Django a deal.  Help him hunt down the Brittles and, in return, he will free Django completely and assist him in rescuing his wife.  A wife now in the hands of Calvin Candie (DiCaprio), a plantation owner and proprietor of Candyland.  Candyland is an amusement park of sorts for the privileged Southerners serving as a training ground for male slaves to fight to the death for sport and a brothel for the female slaves. 

After finding the Brittles, Schultz takes Django under his wing as an associate and teaches him the profession (bounty hunting).  Django proves to be a natural and as winter breaks, the two hunters travel to Mississippi and enter Candyland under the guise of purchasers interested in buying one of Candie's prized fighters.  All their wits and skills will be needed to pull the ultimate con on Candie and his trusted house slave, Stephen (Jackson), who takes an instant dislike to the new "buyers."

It's been my experience speaking with moviegoers that Quentin Tarantino is a polarizing figure.  You love his movies or despise them.  Django will do little to change your opinion of Tarantino one way or the other.  I fall on the love side of this fence and I did like Django.  A lot at times.  Other times I found some of the dialog a little tedious.  There just seemed to be a bit of needless exposition that slowed the movie down.  Clocking in at nearly three hours makes watching Django more of a marathon than a sprint, that much is certain.  There is also a judicious use of the "N" word.  Considering the era when this story takes place, it's to be expected, but it does border a little on the extreme.  Those easily offended should stay away.

But that's not to say there wasn't a lot to like about Django either.  I love Tarantino's humor.  It always borders on the absurd which appeals to my somewhat bizarre sense of humor nicely.    He is a master of taking what should be vile and offensive in nature and making the situation so ludicrous that even the most jaded are reduced to laughter.  Take the "Klan" scene in Django as an example.  It's a stroke of genius that Tarantino made a potential lynching gut-bustingly hilarious.  There aren't many directors who can do this.  He makes this scene one of the best and most memorable from any of his movies (in my opinion).    I also found it comical that a movie depicting the slave era has a soundtrack combination of 70's R&B and gangster rap.  It was strange hearing that against this particular backdrop, but I liked it.

If you like movies on the violent side, this film is right up your alley.  When action happens it's swift and blinding.  And a bit on the cartoonish side as well.  Blood spurts several feet away from the victim.  Bodies appear to be launched from cannons when shot. And we get to see Django brutally turn the whip against a slave overseer for good measure.   Again, not your cup of tea?  You should probably stay away.

The actors are at the top of their game in Django.  Actually, while I think Jamie Foxx was good, I don't believe Django himself was the best character in the film.  I believe that honor would go to either Samuel L. Jackson as the foul-mouthed (what else is new), turncoat house slave, Stephen or Leonardo DiCaprio as the charming, but ultimately brutal Calvin Candie.  They're both so over the top evil, you can't stop watching the movie, if only to see the two of them suffer as horribly and miserably as they have condemned others.  I particularly liked DiCaprio here as he plays a character very much against his normal type.  In fact, I think this is the first film where I have seen him as a totally loathsome character.  He's good as a villain.  Here's hoping he plays one more often. 

There is much to find disturbing about Django Unchained, particularly the graphic depiction of a brutal era in American history.  But the movie is very Tarantino.  Fans of his style will love it.  Count me in that category even if I don't think this was his absolute best movie.  It is still one of the better movies of 2012.

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

**** stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here. 

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Reviews from the Dark Side presents
The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey
Released 12/15/12, now in theaters

Director, Peter Jackson, returns to J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle Earth with the first part of his second trilogy, The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey.  Ian McKellen, Elijah Wood, Cate Blanchett, Christopher Lee, Andy Serkis, Ian Holm, and Hugo Weaving reprise their roles from the Lord of the Rings trilogy.  Martin Freeman and Richard Armitage are introduced in the two major new roles.

An older Bilbo Baggins (Holm) decides to write down the fully story of the adventure that changed his life for his heir Frodo (Wood).  He recalls living a quiet Hobbit life 60 years earlier in the Shire until the wizard, Gandalf the Grey (McKellen), tricks him into hosting a party for Dwarf leader, Thorin Oakenshield (Armitage) and his motley band of Dwarf allies.  The party also doubles as the recruitment of a younger Bilbo (Freeman) to their quest.  And a dangerous quest it is.

Many years prior to this gathering at Bilbo’s house, the Dwarf, Thror (Thorin’s grandfather), became king of the Lonely Mountain (Erebor) dwelling of the Dwarf Empire.  Inside the mountain were riches galore from gold to diamonds to sapphires as far as the eye could see.  These riches brought an era of prosperity to Thror’s kin and to the nearby human town of Dale that was near the mountain.  Thror’s grand army was also thousands strong armed with the finest weapons the Dwarf smiths could fashion.  But the gold and jewels attracted an unwanted “guest” in the form of the great dragon, Smaug, who destroys Dale and drives the Dwarves from Erebor to claim the gold as his own.  Fleeing from their home, Thorin sees King Thranduil of the Wood-Elves and his army watching as the horrible events are taking place from a cliff and then retiring from the battlefield offering no aid to the besieged Dwarfs.  Thus begins a long standing resentment of Dwarves toward Elves on Middle Earth. 

Later, after the Dwarves regroup, they attack the Dwarven city of Moria that has fallen under Orc dominion, led by “The Pale Orc”, Azog.  Azog beheads Thror.  Devasted, Thorin attacks Azog using a tree trunk as a shield (Oakenshield, get it?).  He succeeds in severing one of Azog’s forearms.  The Orc leader is taken from the battlefield by his soldiers as the Dwarves rally presuming Azog to be dead and route the Orcs causing them to retreat from the city.  It is a pyrrhic victory for the Dwarfs, however, as the vast majority of their army is killed in battle.  They can’t even think about making a full assault on Smaug in this state.

The Omens and Portents, however, have shown Thorin many years later that the time is now right for a small commando force to take Smaug by surprise in the mountain.  That is if they can find a way in.  And this is where Bilbo fits into Gandalf’s scheme to aid the Dwarves despite Thorin’s doubts.  Hobbits are peaceful, unassuming creatures that are light of foot and go mostly unnoticed amongst the other beings on Middle Earth.  Bilbo will become the company’s “burglar” for lack of a better term.  Smaug also does not know the smell of Hobbit and will not likely be roused by Bilbo’s presence near the mountain.  That is, if Bilbo accepts.  At first the Hobbit is reluctant and declines.  Then, longing for adventure away from the quiet life of the Shire, he accepts.  But he’s going to get more than he bargained for on this journey and have to dig deep into wits and strength he doesn’t know he has as he faces down near death from trolls, goblins, Orcs led by the still living Azog, and a strange creature named Gollum he meets in the goblins’ lair.  Gollum possesses an object that will be of the utmost importance many years later.  It’s an object that falls into Bilbo’s possession and gives Gandalf pause when he discovers the Hobbit now has it. 

Before seeing The Hobbit, I had the uneasy feeling that what I would see would be all too familiar and essentially a retelling of LOTR.  And while I did get a sense of that, I am happy to see that I have not lost interest in the events of Middle Earth at all.  Jackson still provides the lush landscapes and epic battles that fans have come to know and love.  Make-up and special effects are all top of the line.  There is some truly ugly stuff living on the landscapes of Middle Earth, each seemingly uglier and more grotesque than the previous ungodly creation. What was particularly impressive was the animation of Gollum.  There seemed to be a bit more articulation in him this time around than there was in LOTR. 

The Hobbit is well acted and, as I said before, has no shortage of epic battles.  You get the powerful wizardry of Gandalf, the brutish battle prowess of the Dwarves and the slick, deadly swiftness of the Elves (like a bunch of pointy eared Jedi  to me).  It deftly makes you long for more as it links you to LOTR through Bilbo’s discovery of the “One Ring” and the dark “Necromancer” who has raised the Witch King of Angmar.  Peter Jackson also teases the audience with glimpses of Smaug showing only flashes of nostrils and spiked tail.  He leaves it to your imagination for now as to the dragon’s full, horrifying visage.  The only complaint I have (observation really) is that Gandalf sure could have made a harrowing journey easier on everyone if he had just called on the Great Eagles from the beginning.  For those not versed in Hobbit lore, watch the movie and you’ll know what I mean.
 
For those fans of Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit will have everything you want from Gandalf to dwarves to elves to orcs.  You will appreciate the foreshadowing to the previous trilogy.  It is a pleasurable three hour jaunt back to a magical place not seen since 2003’s The Return of the King. 

The Dark Lord of the Sith says:

****stars

Ratings Legend
Zero *= Don't waste your time. Pure dreck! Dreck is too good for this! Blind me please!
1 *= Fuggedaboutit!
2 *= Average, Mediocre, Nothing Special
3 *= Good viewing. Much better than a poke in the eye.
4 *= Great. Could possibly foot the price of a non-Matinee.
5 *= Pure eye candy. Hall of Fame material here.