Django Unchained Reviews

Tarentino is back!

Posted : 2 weeks, 3 days ago on 7 May 2013 01:05

Django Unchained was an entertaining breath of fresh air and a return to form for Quentin Tarentino. I was bored for all but 5 minutes of "Death Proof" and either bored or asleep for the excruciating 2 and a half hours of "Inglourious Basterds", so I was a little worried when i saw that Django was almost 3 hours long. Thankfully, that long run time passed in what felt like minutes.

Django takes everything about the traditional western and turns it on its head. Instead of a white hero on a white horse and a bunch of comically stereotyped minorities we get a black hero on a dark horse poking fun at the violent, racist period that's been glorified over and over throughout film history. The best example of this is the scene which shows the first ride of (what will become) the KKK, a bunch of clueless idiots complaining that they can't see out of their poorly made hoods; only to be scattered by a simple distraction.

There are wonderful performances from the heroes and villains alike, but I thought the most enjoyable aspect of the movie was probably the soundtrack. It draws on music from just about every era and hearing a modern rap song while our main characters mosey-ed along on their horses made me laugh and applaud.

The ultra-violence of the gun fights is well filmed and comically absurd (giant ribbons of shooting blood), an effective combination of action and comedy. This is contrasted with the other violent parts of the movie, demonstrating just how brutal American slavery of blacks was for a long period of our short history. Some might call these scenes over the top or unnecessary, but they miss the point. They are exactly what is needed before Django can justly carry out his revenge on the slavers and ride into the sunset.

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Revenge, Tarantino-Style

Posted : 4 weeks, 1 day ago on 25 April 2013 04:28

"Django Unchained" is a blood-soaked, blackly funny, slavery-era extravaganza of a film, compliments of Quentin Tarantino. It is a movie populated with great actors delivering great dialogue, with some great gore and not one but two epic shoot-outs at the end to top it off.

Django (Jamie Fox) is a slave who was separated from his wife, Broomhilda Von Shaft (Kerry Washington) as punishment when the two tried to run away together from their plantation. Forced to walk shackled to a cart under harsh winter conditions, Django is surprised to encounter eccentric 'dentist' Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz,) who turns out to be a skilled bounty hunter.

King Schultz acquires Django under strange and bloody circumstances, and offers him a proposition- Django will earn his freedom if he helps King to identify three slavers who are wanted dead or alive. Thus begins a blood, unusual adventure as the two seek out outlaws, and ultimately, attempt to save Django's wife from Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio,) a sadistic and insane slaveowner.

Christoph Waltz, who proved his acting chops playing opportunistic SS officer Col. Hans Landa in Tarantino's 2009 film "Inglourious Basterds," shines here as charismatic and mysterious King Schultz, who seems to have his own strange code of ethics.

Jamie Foxx is good and Kerry Washington excels playing a fairly uninteresting character, but the biggest surprise is DiCaprio. Nothing of 90's heartthrob Leo is present as slimy, venomously evil Candie, like "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?," it's a total transformation.

Some people might be disgusted with the introduction of a sixth character- Stephen, a manipulative and subservient slave (Samuel L. Jackson,) but I thought it was brave of Tarantino to introduce a black villain into a slavery-era film and show the shades of gray between race relations of that time.

There were certain parts of the movie I felt were a little excessive, for instance the KKK scene, which I felt dragged a little. The blood, too, could be a little excessive, but Tarantino without blood, where would we be? Simply put, this will be a delight for fans of Quentin Tarantino, but people looking for a gentler, kinder, more sensitive movie will best look elsewhere.

Tarantino delivers as he always does- clever dialogue, creative shots, and gallons of blood. On a side note, although no movie could accurately portray the horrors of slavery, this film gets pretty far out of people's comfort zone, which is more responsible for the controversy then any alleged racism. If you like Tarantino, you will like this strong entry into his cinematic universe.


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Django Unchained review

Posted : 1 month, 1 week ago on 15 April 2013 05:55

Best movie of 2012, undeniably. It's wonderful to see how easily Tarantino portrays such a hard time that was the 19th century in America , and the poor conditions of slavery with his personal spice. He's always a genius and we can see his brilliant work here: the cast is perfect, the plot is remarkable and the production and scenery are breathtaking. Jamie Foxx is a natural hero as Django, Christoph Waltz is perfect as King Schultz and Leonardo DiCaprio teaches us about acting playing the wonderful character that is Calvin Candie. King Schultz and Django are one of those epic partnerships of cinema, like Bonnie and Clyde. And I will always thank Quentin for the adorable scene in which King Schultz tells Django about the legend of Broomhilda and Siegfried. Sweet , touching and harsh all at the same time. It is already one of the best movies I've ever seen in my entire life. A masterpiece, a capolavoro, bravo, bravo , Tarantino!

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Django Unchained review

Posted : 1 month, 2 weeks ago on 6 April 2013 08:34

Oh I loved this movie! The director, actors and the whole staff (music, scenery, costumes, etc.) did an amazing job. I love how it deals with the issue of slavery and emancipation with a humorist twist to it, but at the same time not offending anybody. The main characters being, a white German and an enslaved African, there's no division between bad and good characters, based on skin colors. The morals of men are put in the first place. It doesn't make you a bad person if you are white, nor does it make you a good, innocent, naive person if you were black, back in the days of slavery. It was all up to the people, how they chose to live and what values they chose to stick too.
I loved the reference to "The Three Musketeers". All the characters are extraordinarily unique and fascinating, with an amazingly wrung storyline and script. Love the dialogues: the southern and the African English accents. Great job Quentin Tarantino, you've outdone yourself on this one.
Even though, I'm not a fan of all the gore and blood in Tarantino's films, I can easily look over that when it comes to Django. You can tell, I obviously loved the movie, with its romantic plot forming the basis and the background for all the trouble Django is going through in order to rescue his wife and true love.
Plus point: no rape scenes shown.
Jamie Fox was an excellent choice for the role of Django and Kerry Washington, a beautiful African-American woman, I wouldn't have chosen anyone else, great couple.
Loved the happy ending!

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Django Unchained review

Posted : 2 months, 2 weeks ago on 7 March 2013 11:09

very very good movie, but a movie that much longer. the end is very nice. very nice work still to do and have done tarantino revealed. congratulations.

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Django Unchained review

Posted : 3 months ago on 16 February 2013 09:19

Uniform,stable,dosified,Tarantino es more calculating and less passionate than before. I like Chris Waltz kind of redemption killing Di Caprio after the best sequence of the explanation over the skull.

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Django Unchained review

Posted : 3 months, 1 week ago on 16 February 2013 06:42

What can i say i love Quentin Tarantino his movies are amazing. This film is freaking awesome to say the least. I went to see it on Christmas and it was the highlight of the day. A wonderful cast Foxx/DiCaprio/Waltz/Jackson/Washington all did amazing performances.Plus the cameo of Jonah hill was great

Also the little cameo Quentin Tarantino at the end was awesome pointless but awesome

But id have to say that out of them all i loved Samuel L. Jackson the most the guy just stole the Show.

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It only works in bits and pieces

Posted : 3 months, 3 weeks ago on 31 January 2013 03:19

"Django. The D is silent."

Django Unchained is one of 2012's best films, a deliriously enjoyable slice of pulpy entertainment finding Quentin Tarantino back at the top of his game...for about seventy minutes. Following the terrific opening act, Django Unchained pussyfoots around in pure boredom for the better part of an hour, showing Tarantino at his most undisciplined and, well, unchained. Tarantino's first all-out Western, the film is actually a close cousin to 2009's Inglourious Basterds. Like that film, Django Unchained takes place in a troubled historical period, features Christoph Waltz, and exhibits the writer-director's strengths and weaknesses in equal measure. While the film has a handful of great set-pieces and a marvellous cast, the flashes of brilliance are let down by Tarantino's indulgent tendencies. Glacially paced, the film never quite soars to excellence despite the tremendous screen artistry on display.

In 1858, two years before the Civil War, dentist-turned-bounty-hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) frees a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) from his captors. Schultz is on the hunt for a trio of wanted slave traders, and needs Django to help him identify them. It fast becomes apparent that Schultz and Django make for an ideal team, and the two enter into an agreement: If Django assists Schultz as they collect bounties, he will reap the financial benefits. And afterwards, the two will set off to retrieve Django's wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), who has been enslaved on a plantation owned by the ruthless Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Django and Schultz travel to Mississippi to meet Candie, hoping to buy Broomhilda from the hedonistic plantation owner.

Inspired by the 1966 Spaghetti Western Django (the lead of which, Franco Nero, cameos here), Django Unchained is Tarantino's most linear film to date - there are no chapters and the timeline is not fragmented. The ingredients for the film were just right, and should've made for a dynamite actioner, but the execution is slipshod. It's such an un-complicated story, hence there's absolutely no earthly reason for it to run nearly three hours. After opening strong, Django Unchained begins losing momentum, with nonsensical bloat causing the film to fizzle out long before the climax. Tarantino loves to hear his characters talk, of course, and such extensive dialogue is almost to be expected, but it doesn't excuse the woeful sense of pacing. The first hour or so is brisk, taut and efficient, developing hope that Tarantino might have finally disciplined himself. But then he gets carried away with speeches and pointless dialogue, bringing the film to its knees.

Django Unchained works in pieces rather than as a whole. Amid the useless plot digressions, the long-winded monologues and the poor attempts at tension, certain set-pieces do work beautifully; there are funny scenes, intense scenes and a number of exhilarating scenarios. The cartoonish bloodshed is where the film truly takes off. The scenes of Django and Dr. Schultz collecting bounties are pure dynamite, and a late shootout is one of the greatest things Tarantino has ever put on the screen. The bullet hits are hilariously exaggerated, with blood squibs exploding like landmines, creating utter delirium. The cinematography by Robert Richardson is sublime as well; Tarantino adores film, hence Django Unchained was shot with 35mm film stock which gives it a gorgeously cinematic appearance. Tarantino clearly strived to create something aesthetically similar to the films of Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, with old-fashioned opening credits and steady photography.

The highlight of Django Unchained, without a doubt, is Waltz as Dr. King Schultz. He essentially plays the good-guy version of his role from Inglourious Basterds; he's well-spoken and impeccably polite, yet he's also a killer at his core. Waltz is a constant delight to watch, radiating charm and delivering Tarantino's dialogue with utmost assurance. Likewise, Foxx is a great fit for Django, soft-spoken and full of gravitas. Will Smith was originally in the running for the role, but he would've slanted the tone too much towards comedy. Foxx, on the other hand, keeps the tone grounded, and the film is all the better for it. Meanwhile, in his first non-lead role since the 1990s, DiCaprio clearly had fun playing Calvin Candie. DiCaprio is not always the most interesting speaker, but his performance is committed and gritty. Samuel L. Jackson also puts in an unexpected performance as a close negro friend of Candie's. Jackson is great, both funny and sinister. The supporting cast also includes the likes of Zoe Bell, Don Johnson, James Remar (in two roles), Bruce Dern, and John Jarrat. Even Tarantino himself appears towards the end of the film, though his work is mediocre at best.

In final analysis, Django Unchained is perhaps the most frustrating motion picture of 2012. Within its overstuffed 165-minute runtime is a far superior, snappier 90-minute movie, and it's irksome to see Tarantino wasting so many brilliant film fragments by surrounding them with tedium. The reason why Tarantino's earlier efforts sparkled so much was due to budget and timing limitations which forced the filmmaker to be disciplined. But armed with a huge budget and with the freedom to do what he wants, he's far less effective.

5.8/10

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Django Unchained review

Posted : 3 months, 3 weeks ago on 29 January 2013 06:50

‘C’è un negro a cavallo!’. Il nuovo film di Tarantino è come una grande meringa farcita di ottima crema, guarnita di canditi e ricoperta di cioccolato: il pasticcere è sempre bravissimo, il dolce è una leccornia, ma forse l’accumulo di ingredienti è eccessivo. Il tanto agognato (da parte sua) omaggio congiunto al western all’italiana e alla blaxploitation – che pure comprese pellicole ambientate sulla frontiera - dimostra ancora una volta che il regista è sempre il primo della classe dei cinefili bulimici: le citazioni si sprecano, evidenti o dissimulate tra immagini, battute e colonna sonora (oltre al tema del ‘Django’ originale, a firma Luis Bacalov, sono ripresi vari motivi provenienti dall’epoca ‘spaghetti’) già a partire dai bellissimi, essenziali titoli di testa e per non parlare dell’inevitabile presenza di Franco Nero – il Django originale che, ovvio, sa che la ‘d’ iniziale è muta.. La bravura di Tarantino si vede però soprattutto nella capacità di gestire l’ipercalorica ricetta: le quasi tre ore di durata volano via senza tentennamenti, grazie a un ritmo inesausto che nasce dalla combinazione di una scrittura serratissima (le battute memorabili si sprecano), da una capacità magistrale nella scelta dell’inquadratura e dalla scelta come al solito azzeccata del commento musicale. I soliti temi della casa in salsa diversa? Forse, ma, in ogni caso, il divertimento di alto livello è assicurato, anche perché ritornano pure le consistenti dosi di humour sovente nero: la scena della posse proto-Klan di Big Daddy che litiga con i cappucci vale da sola il prezzo del biglietto. Inoltre, a ben guardare, i film sono due al prezzo di uno. Nel primo, il dottor Schultz (Waltz) libera Django (Foxx) e ne fa il suo assistente nella discutibile – e discussa da Django stesso - professione del cacciatore di taglie: è il western vero e proprio, fatto di paesini fangosi e splendide immagini di cavalcate fra le montagne innevate (‘Sfida nell’alta sierra?’ di Peckinpah?). Quando, per sdebitarsi, il dottore decide di aiutare il suo socio nella ricerca della moglie, la storia vira verso il fiammeggiante melodramma sudista ambientato in un Mississippi razzista oltre ogni immaginazione. Ad incarnarlo provvede lo spregevole (e incestuoso) Calvin Candle interpretato da un DiCaprio praticamente perfetto, anche se sulle prime pieno di dubbi nell’accettare un personaggio tanto odioso: è lui il padrone della sposa dell’eroe, che risponde al fantasmagorico nome di Broomhilda von Shaft (Wagner e Isaac Hayes in un colpo solo) e a cui regala le proprie delicate fattezze Kerry Washington, incantevole tra tanti omaccioni. Il vecchio servitore Stephen – poteva mancare Samuel L. Jackson? – fa saltare i piani e inizia la carneficina, inaugurata da Schultz, a cui viene riservata una delle più belle morti cinematografiche degli ultimi tempi. Da lì in avanti, il sangue zampilla e la dinamite scoppia, così che sono in pochissimi a uscirne vivi mentre Django ritrova la sua Hildi in una scena sovraccarica di pathos a cui contribuisce la lirica tromba di accompagnamento. Alla fine, esausto ma sazio, mi trovo a fare i conti pensando che, a parte la Gatling, non manca proprio nulla, ma non è però possibile tralasciare una nota sul doppiaggio che dà l’impressione che ci sia qualcosa di troppo ‘lost in translation’. Passi che l’accento tedesco del personaggio di Waltz sia quasi inudibile (magari è così anche in originale), passi per il solito vocione da duro di Insegno affibbiato a Foxx, , ma dà fastidio che nei titoli di coda compaia un’assistente all’accento (sudista, of course) per DiCaprio che, invece, parla un italiano del tutto lineare.

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Tarantino Delivers Again

Posted : 4 months ago on 23 January 2013 06:36

I've wanted to see it for ages and was really excited to do so for two reasons, first, I think Tarantino is one of the best directors around at the moment and I've loved all his work(that I've seen of course), and secondly, simply because this was set to be a western, and many of my favourite films consist of westerns.
So when I finally got to see it I had high hopes, and it did not disappoint! Tarantino blows us away(or rather himself*which you'll get once you see the film) once again with another amazing piece of cinema! It's a classic blood-bath Tarantino film, that I love so much! The perfect example of this being when Django is being shot at by numerous men, but every single shot seems to hit the dead guy in front of him, who's blood pretty much re-paints the house.
The writing, directing and acting are all spot on, Christoph Waltz giving the stand out performance in my opinion, he just knows how to steal the show, much a-like he succeeded in doing in Inglourious Basterds. Samuel L. Jackson plays a great role too, getting in all the swearing needed to feed my swear o'meter, and I never knew Leonardo DiCaprio could play such a convincing bad guy! I knew he was a good actor but he really shone in this. Can't forget the lead, Jamie Foxx, although I feel he gave the weakest performance of the four big names, definitely not a bad performance, which I should stress, its just the other three were on a slightly higher level. Then there's the soundtrack, to be honest I thought it was just perfect, all the songs where played at just the right moments, so fitting, a must have for my soundtrack collection.
I also think its great that Franco Nero, who played Django in the film Django (1966) gets a cameo as well!

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