Django Unchained

"My name is Django."

"How do you spell that?"

"D-J-A-N-G-O. The 'D' is silent."

Django Unchained is Quentin Tarantino's latest film, an homage to old school Westerns about a slave who becomes a bounty hunter. Tarantino, if you didn't already know, is one of the most distinctive filmmakers out there. Whenever a Tarantino movie comes on, you just know that it's him. The dialogue, the humor, the over-the-top violence are present in all of his movies. Wes Anderson (Royal Tenenbaums, Fantastic Mr. Fox) and Guy Ritchie (Snatch., Sherlock Holmes) are two more in this rare company. Take any scene from any of his movies, and it wreaks of Tarantino. In his 8th film, Tarantino takes on subject matter that is once again extremely dark. Inglorious Basterds explored WWII-era racism towards Jews; Django deals with pre-Civil War era racism and slavery towards blacks in the American south. Django is much more focused than Basterds. I felt like Basterds would leave its most interesting characters (namely, Brad Pitt), and focus on boring ones for large chunks of time. Django, from start to finish, is a Tarantino fan's dream. The humor, the violence, and the dialogue are all there in top form.

Django Unchained opens with Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) freeing Django (Jamie Foxx) from the bondage of slavery. Schultz needs Django to identify three bandits in order to collect a bounty on their head. The two become quick friends and a deadly team, with Django eventually joining Schultz in the bounty business. Django divulges to Schultz that he was separated from his wife at a plantation, and plans to go look for her. Schultz agrees to help, and their search leads them to "Candieland", the largest plantation in the south. It is run by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), along with his loyal slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), and is the home of Django's wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). The two plan to stage a daring rescue, and escape with Broomhilda.

Tarantino might be the only filmmaker that can effectively make a movie so dark in subject matter so hilarious. Django does not pull punches. There are several scenes of brutal master-on-slave violence that is horrifying. The "n-word" is used flippantly, probably more so than any movie I've ever seen. It's awful to see it used towards black people in such a normal way. The gore level is very high. Yet despite all of this, the movie has laughs almost entirely throughout. In fact, a scene involving some KKK inspired masks might be one of the funniest I've seen in a long time. The line of "dark" to "distasteful" is danced on but never crossed (at least in my mind; apparently Spike Lee doesn't agree with me).

Jamie Foxx shines as the hero. The movie plays as an homage to Sergio Leone spaghetti Westerns such as A Fistful of Dollars and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. Foxx is in the Clint Eastwood role, the mysterious and cool good guy. I had heard that the role of Django was originally offered to Will Smith, but he decided to turn it down. It would be interesting to watch Smith tackle something more challenging (just look at his IMDb page, he only acts in sure fire blockbuster smash hits), but ultimately I'm happy it went to Foxx. He just looks and acts like a cowboy. His line, "hey there little trouble maker" gave me goosebumps it was so good. Smith could have been great, but Foxx was exceptional. Having seen it, I'm glad the role went to Foxx. He kills it.

Leonardo DiCaprio is magnificent as the villain, Calvin Candie. His southern charm and undercurrent of evil play out perfectly. DiCaprio is in a league with probably only Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise as far as "everything they are in being really good." Waltz is great once again. He stole the show in Basterds, and while he takes a back seat to Foxx, he's still very good. Kudos to Tarantino for getting this guy out of Germany and into Hollywood. He and Foxx form a strange but great team, and the first hour plays almost like a buddy flick. 

At over 2 hours and 40 minutes, Django is long but never drags. It was the total opposite of Lincoln, which made you feel every second of its run time. Tarantino fans will be enthralled by Django. I felt like his previous two efforts, Death Proof and Inglorious Basterds were a step back from the man that brought the absolute classics Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, but Django totally redeems him. It's right up there with his best. In a stellar 2012, a top 10 list is going to be very difficult, and Django will be right up there with The Hobbit, Skyfall, and The Dark Knight Rises.

4.5/5