Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
After an impressive Inglourious Basterds back in 2009, Quentin Tarantino is back in the director's seat and brings us Django Unchained, and yes the D is silent. If you've seen the movie Lincoln, the fictional events of Django Unchained takes place two years before the Civil War and in a time where slavery was still prominent in some states. It is year 1858 and we meet Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a bounty hunter posing as a dental practitioner. He stumbles upon a group of men transporting a group of slaves, one of which is Django (Jamie Foxx). Schultz is searching for the Brittle brothers for which there is a bounty, and only Django can lead him to them. After taking down the Brittle brothers, Schultz and Django become bounty partners and partake in a plan to rescue Django's slave wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington).
Django Unchained started out a bit slow for me, even though I was impressed with Christoph Waltz being a bad-ass and a comedian at the same time. He portrayed this manipulative and slick character so well and overshadowed Jamie Foxx at the beginning. The movie became a lot more fun for me when we met Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). He was commanding in his role as a propietor of Broomhilda's plantation. I found the scenes involving Leonardo, Jamie and Christoph to be tense because at any given time, it could have just blown up in their faces. At first I wasnt feeling Jamie Foxx's character that much but as the movie went along, I warmed up to him. Samuel L. Jackson was the typical Samuel L. Jackson and he did his part by being the film's comic relief.
Django Unchained felt so refreshing. I believe Tarantino captured that whole spaghetti western aspect quite well but at the same time, the film felt like a spoof with all its entertainment and humor. This is a very touchy period in American history where slavery was still prominent so the film highlights some horrors of Black slavery, which may spark emotions. The "n-word" is used abundantly throughout the film but at no time did it feel offensive or overused but instead it just added to the cool experience. The movie's run-time is 2hours 45minutes and even though it started a bit slow for me, it ran off in no time. An attribute of Tarantino's films is strong, entertaining dialogue and it was no different in this movie. The film is filled with funny lines and the characters are overly impressive. What really surprised me about this film was how bloody and graphic in nature it was. The action sequences were amazingly violent and will keep you on the edge of your seats.
Rating: 8.5/10
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Good review Shawna. Say what you will about Tarantino, the dude sure knows how to build tension. The dinner scene had me on the edge of my seat.
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