Django Unchained Review

Jamie Foxx as Django in Django Unchained

Django Unchained

A+

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

Quentin Tarantino has a way of taking genres and flipping them upside down. He’s worked his magic with the heist film, the gangster film, the martial arts film, and even the war film. His latest Django Unchained takes aim at the western by creating a dirty, pulpy and completely over the top homage to the genre. Django Unchained also happens to be one of the most important films of 2012 as while it’s, at times, cartoonish and over the top Tarantino has something important to say about slavery and racism in America, both past and present.

Django Unchained opens in 1858 with dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz (Christoph Wlatz ) freeing a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) so that he can complete the killings of the Brittle Brothers. The two embark on a business arrangement in which a profitable bounty hunting winter is to be had and Django is to get his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) back from whoever she was sold to. Their trip to find Broomhilda leads them to hoax rich plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his lead servant Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) into letting them into “Candieland” in order to get Broomhilda back into Django’s arms.

Django Unchained is a classic example of Quentin Tarantino making a Quentin Tarantino film as there is really no other genre that this film fits in. All the Quentin Tarantino quirks are here the snappy dialogue that is usually punctuated by bloody brutal violence, the strange, time jumping, always unpredictable plotline, and finding laughs in the most unexpected places (to avoid spoilers from this film the all time greatest example of Tarantino’s interesting sense of humor was Pulp Fiction’s “Oh man I think I just shot Marvin in the face” moment.). The film is one minute funnier than most comedies and the next it’s dark and bloody, and the next minute it’s both at the same time. Django is a unique, special film that continues Tarantino’s run of making strange and dazzling films

Writing and dialogue are perhaps the strongest quirk of the Tarantinnian film and Django Unchained is no exception. While the random conversations and dramatic monologues are lighter than in prior efforts, the film still uses dialogue to capture the mood and atmosphere of the old west. The language used is appropriately vulgar with heavy use of the “n” word to convey the racist ways of the old west. It may not be for everyone (despite the film using the controversial “n” word it’s used for the sake of satire and not because of any sort of racism. Quentin Tarantino has never been subtle and introvert with his filmmaking and this film is definitely support to that) but it provides an important social commentary of the use of language and the state of race and culture in America while never boring the audience in the slightest. Plus it doesn’t hurt when the dialogue is so good that anything that comes out of the mouths of these characters is a joy to listen to.

Another one of the great things that Tarantino does is that he always seems to get amazing performances out of his actors. Jamie Foxx has proven in the past that he can be an adequate dramatic actor and he does some good work here as the protagonist. The real standouts though are Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L. Jackson. Waltz was brilliant in Inglorious Basterds and he is every bit a brilliant here. Waltz has a way with the dialogue he is given and from his opening monologue he shows how well he can deliver it. DiCaprio and Jackson are suculant villains that are fun to hate. Each has some great moments that are delivered with absolute perfection. There are also some fun cameos here or there, including Tarantino himself with a ridiculous Australian accent, that add some fun to the film.

The film is shot with many different styles in mind and each adds a distinctive flair to the film. The beginning of the film calls upon Western stylings and then it peppers in other genre stylings every so often. The result is a beautiful, yet completely pulpy film that looks distinctive from almost anything else out there. The soundtrack is classic Tarantino as it features traditional movie cues (in this case some really cool western style music) with completely out of era music (such as James Brown mixed with 2 Pac) that feels strangely natural with the over the top vibe of the overall film.

In all Django Unchained is the most consistent fun to be had at a theater this year. Tarantino has created a fantastically unique film that combines that takes a traditional western and adds so much style and commentary. It’s a fantastic achievement and yet another fine film that ends up in the very large A+ class of 2012.