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.