With western influences seeping into so many Quentin Tarantino films (such as Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds), an actual western film by Tarantino is a dream come true. Styles and sensibilities align in a sublime manner, resulting in what must be one of the most unique and refreshingly entertaining films in the genre.
Django Unchained has everything that makes a Tarantino so great: style, sharp dialogue, an attentive production, poignant violence, unpredictable plotting, and vengeful characters we can root for. The film has several major shooutouts and duels, which are quite thrilling, and extremely bloody. The violence here is on the same level as a Paul Verhoeven film, for it is explosively bloody and pulpy, and it never shies away from showing the painful consequences of such violence. There are also a few brutal scenes that can be pretty hard to watch. When the bullets aren't flying, however, the film maintains a lot of interest with its purposeful dialogue and pacing, and with its plot building. I feel the film slowed down and lost some of its vibe quite a bit in the middle, but most everything else is fantastically entertaining.
The plot is what makes the film work, more than the action. It's somewhat divided into several episodes of sorts, but they all build up a central revenge-driven conflict, and it all reaches a satisfying climax. The plot twists and turns in very wild and interesting directions, and always with vigilant attention to the characters. Django himself is a character we can't help but to root for, while Dr. Schultz is a character too interesting to dismiss. Most everybody else are bad guys we love to hate. Beneath nearly every scene is a poignant undercurrent of racism, a theme which drives all of the characters and the story. Do be warned that such themes have not sat well with many audience members, especially with the film's language.
As expected, this film has a ton of style. You can certainly expect quality photography and sharp editing. Acting is very good: Jamie Foxx does his best to make the title character iconic, while Christoph Waltz and Leo DiCaprio both liven things up a lot and try to steal each scene. Samuel L. Jackson is as grumpy as ever, and it was a joy to watch Kerry Washington. Writing is superb; Tarantino continues to show incredible skill as wielding dialogue and language of given eras and cultures for entertaining effect. This production has good-looking sets, props, and costumes, but I did feel that a few things looked a little too modern or out-of-place in a western. As with most of his other films, Tarantino manipulates music in the film impeccably.
The violence and racist issues have caused some controversy, but Django Unchained is a brilliant marriage of Tarantino's beloved style and Tarantino's beloved genre. Westerns aren't even my thing, but D.U. is exciting enough and has enough style and substance to make me call it a favorite.
4.5/5 (Entertainment: Good | Story: Very Good | Film: Very Good)
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