Django Unchained

Django Unchained (R)

Grade: C+

• Directed by: Quentin Tarantino
• Produced by: Stacey Sher, Reginald Hudlin, Pilar Savone
• Screenplay by: Quentin Tarantino
• Starring: Jamie Foxx (Django Freeman), Christoph Waltz (Dr. King Schultz), Leonardo DiCaprio (Calvin J. Candie), Kerry Washington (Broomhilda Von Shaft), Samuel L. Jackson (Stephen), Walter Goggins (Billy Crash), James Remar (Ace Speck/Butch Pooch)
• Cinematographer: Robert Richardson
• Studio: A Band Apart
• Distributed by: The Weinstein Company (USA), Columbia Pictures (International)
• Released: December 25, 2012 (USA), January 18, 2013 (UK)
• Running Time: 165 minutes/2 hours and 45 minutes
• Language: English

"Gentlemen, you had my attention, but now you have my curiosity."

-Calvin J. Candie

The words spoken above by Leonardo Dicaprio's character in "Django Unchained" represent how I feel before I watch any Quentin Tarantino film.  I always expect blood, over the top violence, and intricate dialogue, but the thing I usually expect most is to be entertained.  So far with "Reservoir Dogs", "Pulp Fiction", and "Inglorious Basterds", I haven't been disappointed, but I'm afraid the train stops with his latest film, which isn't terrible, but it isn't top-tier either.

The film starts off in 1858, where a group of slaves are being led by two white men known as the Speck Brothers.  As the brothers are leading the slaves, they encounter Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist who wishes to purchase a slave.  The brothers refuse to do business with Schultz, so he takes one of slaves by force, whose name is Django Freeman.  Django was chosen by Schultz because he is a bounty hunter that needs some help finding outlaws.  After collecting a bounty together, the two agree to partner up and go to plantations to find Django's wife, whom he was separated from when they got sold at a slave auction.  When they finally find the plantation she's at, they find out the owner is crazy Calvin Candie, and that getting back Django's wife is going to be harder than it looks.

Like any Tarantino film, the atmosphere is perfectly set from the moment from the film starts rolling.  The music is really engrossing, and sets the mood for the kick ass action that starts almost instantly.  There's a wonderfulness to Christoph Waltz's character Schultz that I just love in this film.  He's hilariously sarcastic with his actions, but at the same time, he shows he cares by partnering up with Django and teaching him how to act "white".  The scenes with Schultz and Django together are terrific because of the chemistry and charisma Waltz and Foxx have together, which is why it's a shame when Schultz is gone for part of the film.  When he leaves, Django means less to us since he is no longer a friend to anyone anymore and just a killer.  Sure, we root for him because we want him to get his wife back, and we've seen him suffer throughout the whole film, but there's a difference between killing with a plan, and just killing for the hell of it.  We've seen that before, and that makes the second half of "Django Unchained" predictable, unsatisfying, and long.

Added with that is what I view as laziness on Tarantino's part.  The screenplay is decent, but there are major flaws with it.  There's "Mandingo fighting", smart slaves/dumb slave owners, and scenes of little relevance like one involving a group of whites and bags.  I'm all for scenes with violence or laughter, especially when it comes to Tarantino, but not when it's dragged out, irrelevant, or written poorly, which I thought that some scenes were.  It was something I was extremely disappointed in, considering past Tarantino films could make me laugh or cringe without such obvious dialogue or presentation, like in "Pulp Fiction" (Marvin scene).

All in all," Django Unchained" isn't terrible, but it's not even close to his other three films I've seen.  The screenplay is weak, the violence looks fake, the pacing is slow, and everything is predictable.  When Jamie Foxx is on his own, they should have called the film "Django Chained" because he should stayed that way if he was just going to be another stereotypical killer, and not the hero he started out as.