Django Unchained: Review
The newest film from Quentin Tarantino stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson. This story begins in 1858. Django (Foxx) is a slave among a group that is being led to be sold. A man named Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), who is also a bounty hunter, buys Django and make him a free man but in return he must help them find The Brittle Brothers who are a group of killers that work for plantation owner Big Daddy (Don Johnson). Schultz handpicked Django specifically because of his ties to The Brittle Brothers. They whipped his wife Broomhilda (Washington) repeatedly as a punishment for trying to escape the plantation they were on and then sold her to an unknown buyer causing them to be separated. After utilizing Django’s help and sees the potential he has, he makes a deal with him. If they become business partners and Django helps him then he will help him find his wife. Once they do a bit more investigating during their trek across the country they find that the identity of Broomhilda’s owner is that of Calvin Candie (Dicaprio). Now that they know where she is they must devise a plan to get her back and Django is ready to do so at all costs.
A film with this type of subject matter may raise some eyebrows to some but when I saw the name Quentin Tarantino attached to it I knew he would be able to pull this off in a way that no one else possibly could. He created a story that historically was such an ugly time and created a fantastic revenge film that will easily become a classic as time moves on. The main thing that I loved about this film was that Foxx’s character is so empowered. We see Django go from slave to ultimate bad ass bounty hunter all in the name of love. His main focus his getting his wife back and nothing or no one is going to stand in his way. Throughout the film Django was the one in control of situations for the most part although the people around him (besides Schultz) didn’t realize. Foxx was fantastic and gave a powerful performance as Django and I really don’t think anyone else could’ve pulled it off in a Tarantino film like he could. Waltz pulled another great job in a Tarantino film. It was good to see him as a protagonist rather than the villainous role he played in Inglorious Basterds. Dicaprio’s role made me want to strangle him and rip his head off. When you start to feel that way about the villain of a film then you know the role was very well written and performed extremely well. I always feel like that if a movie is based in the present then it’s more than okay to include older music in the films’ soundtrack but it becomes very strange when it’s the other way around. When I heard Rick Ross’ 100 Black Coffins play over the film for some odd “Tarantino-esque” reason it worked. Quentin has continuously matched and partnered music with his films with precision and this film was no different. If there was music in a scene that you were puzzled about then just remember that it’s there for a reason. Django Unchained is a film with a few exaggerations and a few historic inconsistencies but it is a 2hr 45min film that doesn’t feel that long at all. Most of it being attributed to it never slowing down. There’s always something going on. This movie was fantastic (but also sometimes understandably uncomfortable) from the opening scene to the closing credits and it’s a “Can’t Miss”.
Django Unchained is out NOW at your local theater from The Weinstein Company
