Django Unchained

Tarantino gives us another stroke of his genius filmmaking. Django Unchained is exactly what you might expect it to be. Here lies the only filmmaker in the world that could take a horrific piece of history, turn it into a spaghetti western grindhouse, add some comedy (questionable at times) and yet not for a second lose the brutal realism in the story he’s trying to tell. It’s an excellent production that is intensely violent, wildly hilarious, and above all outrageously entertaining. This is by far the best film of 2012.

This is the Tarantino I wanted to see. This is the first film I’ve seen of his where I felt every aspect was purely enjoyable for him, and at this point in his career it’s well deserved. One thing I’ve always loved about Tarantino is his prowess ability to bring the best out of his actors; something a lot of directors seem to have forgotten. A director obviously has a lot of involvement in the creative aspect of the film (especially in the case of writer/directors), however he/she is the only person on set who is paid to direct the performances. What he’s able to bring out of this cast is truly a phenomenon. Jamie Foxx took quite awhile to come into his character, spending most of the first act struggling, but after he does he really shines. Samuel L. Jackson really has fun with his role as Candie’s advisor and that translates into the audience having fun watching him. The true showstoppers –as was expected- were in fact Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio. They took turns stealing the screen. Waltz’ however, I found dangerously similar to his character in Inglorious Basterds and at times it took me away from the story. It was far from movie breaking since I loved both characters but it was enough to note. DiCaprio on the other hand plays a vicious plantation owner with an unruly performance that’s sure to be recognized for years to come. Waltz and DiCaprio together - both playing outside their typical casting - blow away any competition and in a way I’m sure neither could have predicted.

The movie is an astonishing 165 minutes long and yet it doesn’t feel very long. There were a few questionable scenes, such as the hooded riders all talking about the masks. While I was laughing the whole time I couldn’t help but think how silly and “un-Tarantino” the whole thing was. Perhaps it was a throwback to the genre or I may have missed something entirely but a lot of the laughable parts of the film felt so generic and cliché; things I wouldn’t expect to see in any film of Tarantino’s. One thing I went in worrying about was the editing. I thought the loss of his previous editor Sally Menke would take away from the film. Nothing against Fred Raskin but I knew it would have an impact on the film. The effect was not as drastic as I thought it would be and it was different. I was actually happy to see something different.

Congratulations are in order for Mr. Tarantino and the entire crew really. There is some really cool cinematography, a great soundtrack, powerful performances and spectacular writing.

My Rating: 9/10