Django Unchained-A Movie Review

[imdb id=tt1853728]

Watched on May 26, 2014 from Redbox.

This one was OK. We’d both wanted to see it, and it wasn’t a wasted couple of hours, but we’re glad we didn’t pay the full theater price to see it.

Why people tout this movie as a work of genius is beyond me. A 3 hour long runtime was a lot for the material at hand. The story is predictable and the characters (barring Stevens and Calvin) pretentiously self-righteous and boring.

While the film did possess panache in delivery, as all Tarantinos do, it lacked a central character and premise strong enough to make it engaging. The intelligent script and characterization that is a hallmark of films such as “Reservoir Dogs”, “Pulp Fiction”, “Death Proof” etc is dampened due to Django’s portrayal as a virtual mute with an attitude.

A remake of a 1966 Spaghetti Western Jamie Foxx plays the title character, a slave taken on by bounty hunter King Schultz (Christophe Waltz) in order to help find his former overseers. Once free Django joins Schultz in a professional capacity and is Django is able to embark on a more personal search. 

Jamie Foxx gives a fine performance but ends up overshadowed first by the sheer charm displayed by Waltz and then the showier and unsettling, but highly effective, turns of both DiCaprio and Jackson. Tarantino, while usually having primarily male casts, writes strong roles for women so it’s perhaps a little surprising that the stunning Washington (as the wife of Django) has relatively little to do. Most of the remaining cast is roll call of cameos from icons of 80’s TV and film along with an appearance from the original Django (Franco Nero) as well as slightly more bazaar appearances by Quentin Tarantino and Jonah Hill.

This film will not be for everyone. Western purists may find some of the dialogue a little incongruous (to be fair, I’m not an historian and it’s entirely possible that ‘mother******’ was widely used in the 1850’s Old West) and the manufacturers of fake blood may go the wall if Tarantino ever stops directing. For those who like the film, ‘Enjoyable’ is perhaps still the wrong word for this movie. The film has come in for criticism for its depiction of slaves, and the brutalities visited on them, but since the horrors on display are apparently historically accurate it could be considered more offensive to gloss over these events in favour of a more palatable viewing experience.

(1 votes, average: 7.00 out of 10)

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