Quentin Tarantino, as of late, really likes to mess with genre and history. Most of his films are homages to the greats and classics before it. Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were homages to the early pulp crime movies of the sixties and seventies. Jackie Brown was an homage to blaxploitation films. Kill Bill was an homage to very early Kung Fu films. And now, he's tackled spaghetti westerns. The reason Tarantino makes such great movies is because he is a fan of film. He's devoted his entire being to film. He knows how to write a film because his life is film. He'll show his actors dozens of films similar to that of what he's trying to direct with each new movie he makes. So, it's no surprise that his attempt at recreating the classic western genre is a total success.
Django Unchained tells the story of a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who partners up with a bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) to go on a quest to save Django's enslaved wife (Kerry Washington) from the evil plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Now, what's strange about this new venture for Tarantino is he's not given his story or his characters the same cinematic paths as his other movies that lend to long mundane, yet interesting conversation. The quest these two are on moves quite quickly through each scene never really pausing long enough in one spot without someone getting blasted. He also shows us this story in linear sequence, a rarity in the world of big T. I think he's made the right decision, because while there are a few flashbacks, it would be a little jarring to watch this story unfold out of order.
What's great about this story is that Tarantino was brave enough to tackle slavery, not so much in an educational way, but for pure entertainment value. This idea alone has to be handled very delicately, otherwise you're bound to piss a lot of people off. Leave it to Q.T. to not only show the horrors of slavery, but make you feel worse about it than even Roots could. He was able to put himself in the mind of the slave Django and write a realistic feeling character who is actually smarter than most of the white folks surrounding him. Tarantino is also extremely unapologetic in his portrayal of slavery. There are no filters here. Some scenes are genuinely difficult to stomach but are necessary to show in order to accurately display the times of one of the worst eras in U.S. human history. It's a raw depiction of the south, transformed into a unrelenting western almost reminiscent of Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven.
Like I said earlier, T-Dawg also enjoys screwing with history. If you haven't seen Inglourious Basterds yet then you deserve to have this spoiled for you... but the man kills Hitler. I mean, he doesn't just kill Hitler he blasts his ass up with hundreds of machine gun bullets piercing his face! It doesn't take away from the accurate portrayal of Nazi times and the people living and surrounding World War 2. He's able to add these pulp elements because the man knows how to tell a story and entertain an audience to the point that we get to see Hitler annihilated, something never seen before. It's the same for Django Unchained. There hasn't been a film before where we get to see a tortured slave take the reigns and open up whiskey barrels of whoop ass on some white slave owners. It's a hell of a sight to see these guys shot, blown up, maimed and all kinds of horrible death you wish upon these creatures. Django himself, as well as Dr. Schultz are a thrill to watch because they're the purest form of badass there is, taking down some of the most despised people from history.
At two hours and forty-eight minutes, Django never really seems to drag because every scene has a point. There are only a few instances where I felt the scene could've been shortened, but left as is, the movie still feels three hours shorter than any Lord of the Rings film. The performances are also off the charts. I'm not the biggest fan of Jamie Foxx, he's just a little too egotistical for me and I always have this feeling that he's trying to steal the camera from someone else, but as Django he's actually very humble, lending most of the memorable first-half scenes to Christoph Waltz, who, as always, is excellent. If you hated his Hans Landa character in Inglourious his Dr. Schultz character certainly redeems him tenfold. Leonardo looks like he's having just too much fun with the role of Candie. I'm hoping he'll be a little more open-minded to take on the role of villain more often because he's damn good at it. Other than Waltz, it's Samuel L. Jackson who actually steals the show. His character of indentured house servant Stephen is despicable. He's the most heinous character in the entire film, yet nearly everything that comes out of his mouth has you in stitches.
And don't worry, folks, Tarantino doesn't disappoint with his ultra-violence. The movie is extremely bloody, but never in a distasteful way. In fact, some of the most gruesome moments of the film (and there are a couple gruesome moments) happen offscreen. Then again, some of them happen right in front of your eyes. The only thing truly unwatchable in Tarantino's film is Tarantino himself. Seriously, dude, stay behind the camera.
It's movies like Django Unchained that make me love December. Almost nothing bad comes out in December (save for a few forgettable family Christmas movies) and I'm able to sit back and enjoy true art and entertainment before the January shit-runoff starts moving the great movies out of theaters. Django Unchained may very well be overlooked by the Academy, but it will not be overlooked by anyone who decides to see it. It's one of the very best movies of the whole year.
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