Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Walsh, Kerr7 Washington, Leonardo Di Caprio and Samuel Jackson
Director: Quentin Tarantino
I am an unapologetic fan of all things QT. Tarantino has a way of reworking a genre injecting himself into the project and creating something wholly original. If you took the sampling reputation of P Diddy and mixed it with the most noteworthy dj to remix an album you wouldn’t be able to touch what Tarantino has been able to accomplish.
His latest offering Django Unchained features former dentist turned bounty hunter King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) who acquires Django (the sixth man in a seven man chain gang) for his ability to visually recognize the “Brittle Brothers” who headed up the whipping station at Djangos old plantation. Schultz takes Django under his wing teaching him the bounty hunting game and eventually helping Django infiltrate Calvin Candies (Leonardo DiCaprio) Candy Land plantation, under the guise of being “Slavers” looking to get into the Mandingo fighting game as a ruse to rescue Django’s wife BroomHilda (Kerry Washington). For all its blustery western glory Django is a romance at heart.
Jamie Foxx who I will say is not my cup of tea, everything he has done from his stint on In Living Color to his music career to his stand up to his film career outside of every given Sunday, has been overated. My apologies to Mr Foxx, he blew me away as Django I stand corrected, he is a talented man including his portrayal of the delicious snack cake Ding Dong on SNL. Foxx’s Django is a romantic, he is cool, he is a bad ass, and he is outstanding. Christoph Waltz as King Schultz rewards the audience with a performance equal to his best supporting actor academy award winning performance in Tarrantino’s Inglorious Basterds. The guy is simply mesmerizing, able to deliver Quentin’s dialog like no one else. DiCaprio delivers a Dicaprio level performance as the plantation owner and purveyor of Candy Land. He is the essence of seething southern hospitality, beneath the facade of a gentleman is unadulterated rage. While Dicaprio is billed as the main villain, The award for Heinocity goes to Tarantino regular Samuel Jackson who quite simply delivers one of the funniest and most evil characters to grace the screen in recent memory. His take on Steven is as despicable as it is standout, hopefully it doesnt fly under the radar
Tarantino again delivers exceptional dialogue, what sets him apart is that he is able to diverge into a conversation that is as compelling as it is ridiculous. He could realistically cut out a good hour of the film, but what fun would that be? Only Tarrantino could have a lynch mob hold a conversation on the placement of the eye holes in their masks, that little bit of a diversion is what showcases QT’s distinctive voice. While the scene was not necessary it was a scene that injected humor and levity into the situation.
Django is unapologetically violent; it’s unapologetic in its dialog. It’s just flat out unapologetic and that’s why it succeeds. It is proof that pandering to an audience is not necessary, a unique vision and a unique film will stand out on its own merits.
Grade 98
