Most fans of Quentin Tarantino know that he is obsessed with spaghetti westerns, hell Inglourious Basterds was essentially a western but set in Nazi Germany, and now the famed director is finally tackling the genre head-on with his part love story, part buddy comedy and part slave revenge tale, Django Unchained.
When a bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) reaches a dead end on his latest targets, he seeks the help of a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) to help ID his targets. For his help, Dr. King Schultz will grant Django his freedom as well as provide him with some cash to help get him out of the South. As the two becomes friends and upon hearing the tragic separation story of Django and his German speaking wife Broomhilda von Shaft (Kerri Washington), Schultz offers to train Django in the fine art of bounty hunting and when winter ends he will accompany Django on his quest to retrieve his beloved Broomhilda from a plantation called Candieland, a place run by the French loving Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio).
“I kill white people and get paid for it. What’s not to like?” That fantastic line by Mr. Foxx truly sets the tone for Tarantino’s latest, it’s both comical and deadly serious, much like the combination of films he is paying homage to i.e. Blazing Saddles and anything by Sergio Leone. Like myself, I’m sure many people think this is going to be a slave revenge film the way Basterds was a Jewish revenge flick, but this is only true in the beginning and during the epic and splattastic finale. It’s this constant tonal change that makes this film such a joy to watch, and by joy I mean 165 minutes of straight comical badassery. Yes, I made that word up but it couldn’t be any truer. The opening scene where racial slurs, death threats and seemingly sophisticated dialogue are delivered over a slave negotiation is a perfect example of how comedy and suspenseful drama are intertwined throughout the film.
My question is, why can’t all movies that are nearly three hours long be this entertaining? From start to finish, Django rarely lets up. If it’s not funny, it’s intense, if it’s not intense, it’s dramatic and if it’s not dramatic it’s likely packed with blood splattering action. Tarantino has crafted a masterful script that grabs the audience, pulls them into his world, and doesn’t let them go until the last word of his trademark dialogue is spoken (that means stay for a quick scene after the credits).
The most surprising part about Django, which I’ve touched on above, is how legitimately funny it is. The film is more of a violent comedy than a drama and though the final act is much more intense and suspenseful than the rest of the movie, there are still traces of humor throughout. I’m actually curious if it will get nominated for best musical or comedy at the Golden Globes rather than a drama because it’s one of the funniest films I’ve seen this year. There is one scene in particular that involves a mob of southerners getting ready to attack Django and Schultz while wearing these white bags with holes in them (like amateur KKK hoods) but they are cut so poorly that it’s tough f
or them to see out of the bags. A debate amongst the mob starts with everyone ripping on the bags but at the same time feeling bad because one of the wives made all of them. The dialogue that follows is some of the funniest I’ve heard this year, I literally got to a point where I couldn’t breathe.
Much like Waltz in Inglourious Basterds, DiCaprio as Calvin Candie was a match made in heaven. He’s menacingly good in his role, making you despise everything about him, but the scary part is this is the first time I think I’ve seen DiCaprio smile more than once in a movie since Titanic, which is creepy to think about. What’s even more amazing is that as much as you hate Dicaprio’s character, it’s Samuel L. Jackson’s character Stephen who you hate the most, particularly because he’s a slave with power committing black-on-black crime as Candie’s right-hand man and is out for Django from the get-go.
Though the above guys are good and Jamie Foxx certainly has a cool swag to his character, it’s Christoph Waltz once again who steals the show and who could easily earn his second Oscar nomination for his role as the German dentist turned bounty hunter. Even if his delivery is similar to his pragmatic Nazi character, everything he does on screen is memorizing and commendable, it’s just tough to tell if he’s considered a supporting character or if he is actually the lead.
Lastly, Tarantino’s films always have interesting scores, but it’s the all encompassing soundtrack of Django Unchained that makes it one of the most memorable scores of the year in my book. For those that don’t even pay attention to the music it’s literally impossible to ignore the eclectic selection in Tarantino’s latest as it features every genre ranging from vintage Ennio Morricone spaghetti western tunes, to heavy rock and even some deep rap from the likes of Rick Ross. This is the first time Tarantino has commissioned artists to write original songs for his film and it surely paid off in a big way (I’ll likely buy this soundtrack when it hits the shelves).
When it comes to pure theater going enjoyment, a factor that gets overlooked by awards committees, Django Unchained is at the top of my list. It’s pure unadulterated fun that also happens to be brutal, graphic and honest in a way that only Tarantino can deliver. It’s a film capped with badass performances and showdowns that make you wish the movie would never end and though the film focuses on touchy subject matter, it dances around it so well that it never makes the diversified audience feel uncomfortable at all, which is a true accomplishment in my book.
Rating: 165 minutes of straight awesomeness and one of the best movies of 2012 (9.7/10)
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