by Matthew Milewski
Opinions Editor
Django Unchained is the next genre film from director Quentin Tarantino, whose previous works include the likes of Pulp Fiction and Inglorious Basterds. A play on the likes of black exploitation and western films, does Django Unchained do enough to fit into Tarantino’s existing works?
Django Unchained follows the journey of a slave named Django (played by Jamie Foxx), who is purchased (in a manner of speaking) by charismatic bounty hunter Dr. Schultz (Cristoph Waltz). Django is promised freedom if he assists him with his trade, and upon doing so, is aided by the doctor in an attempt to rescue his enslaved wife from a plantation owner by the name of Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo Di Caprio).
It’s hardly Shakespeare, but Tarantino excels once more at delivering one entertaining, stylistic scene after another. Stylistic is the key word here, with Tarantino employing a number of his old tricks, like blood squibs and scrolling text, to give the film his own flair. Django also gets many of its best moments from the anachronistic soundtrack, with a particularly enjoyable use of a rap song taking place late in the film.
It’s also impressive to note that every single performance in the film is great, particularly Di Caprio’s character, who represents a refreshing change of pace for the actor. Tarantino is also known for giving his films memorable dialogue; fortunately, Django is no exception, with Waltz and Di Caprio getting the brunt of the good lines.
Django also helps to give some of Tarantino’s characteristic violence some actual strong purpose, especially when done towards the enslaved people in the film. Perhaps it is over-the-top, but Django Unchained makes the brutality in slavery quite clear in ways many historical dramas fail to.
There are only two things I find that Django Unchained flubs badly. For one, it is just far too long. No scene in particular should have been “cut” per say, but I found myself having a pretty acute sense of time passing far too often. The film really should have had around a half hour shaved off its crazy two hours and fourty-five minute running time.
Django Unchained also feels a bit too safe at this point in Tarantino’s career. The film is good in the way that Tarantino films are always good, but there is nothing that truly comes off as “bold”; an odd statement about a film that uses the N-word dozens of times, but I think it applies.
Still though, this is as fun a movie as any Tarantino has made, and that is worth praising
4/5.