See? That's what minoring in film gets you. The ability to use words like "auteur."
The thought of Tarantino tackling a western is a spark of brilliance so bright it could be used to light up Wrigley Field. Even his movie set in World War II, "Inglorious Basterds," felt vaguely like a western in many regards, at least to me. And "Kill Bill" couldn't get any more good ol' western vigilante justice if you stuck Charles Bronson's Stetson on Uma Thurman. It just seemed like a perfect fit. But honestly, I didn't care what it was about or even where they set it. It's a Tarantino flick. I'm going to enjoy myself.
When I heard about the run-time for "Django Unchained," I must admit to being a bit nervous. I felt "Inglorious Basterds" suffered from an over-abundance of love for its own dialogue, and could have been easily trimmed by a half hour without losing much. So when the length of "Django Unchained" turned out being 12 minutes longer than "Inglorious Basterds," you can understand my concern. But much like "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" I still reasoned that even if it were too long, you're still getting good stuff, so it can't be that bad.
You know you want to see whatever film contains this...
And hey presto, what do you know? I did greatly enjoy myself at "Django Unchained." That was not surprising. Tarantino is nothing if not consistent. What did surprise me was that "Django Unchained" is probably his most streamlined and fast moving film since "Reservoir Dogs" or "Pulp Fiction," and goes by the quickest of any since then despite being the longest one he's ever made. Hell, even "Reservoir Dogs" hits a speed bump at the hour mark when we get Tim Roth's flashback, and "Pulp Fiction" is just so much story to process that it can feel like a long sit on occasion. "Django" never hit a single hiccup in the breakneck pace of its nearly 3 hour narrative.
Jamie Foxx plays the eponymous Django, a slave in 1858 Texas who has been separated from his wife, another slave named Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Enter Dr. King Schultz, a former dentist turned bounty hunter played by Christoph Waltz, who sets Django free to use him to identity his former owners, who have a bounty on their heads. Later seeing that Django possesses a natural talent for killing, Schultz takes him under his wing to become his partner in bounty hunting, under the promise that they will eventually find and rescue Django's wife.
And kill white people. That's cool, too.
Following several leads, they eventually find that Broomhilda has been sold to a slave owner named Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), who runs a plantation named "Candieland." Infiltrating his operation under the guise of mandingo merchants (a fictional form of Romanesque entertainment where two slaves fight to the death, something Candie is particularly fond of), Django and King attempt to dupe Candie and buy her off him, all without arousing his suspicions. To do that they'll have to deal with Candie's sadistic streak as well as Stephen, the leery head house-slave, played by Tarantino standby Samuel L. Jackson. And as one can extrapolate by the fact that it's a Tarantino movie, it will all end in a whole lot of blood.
The thing that's great about Tarantino movies is that while the stories may not always be anything overly special, its the characters that populate them that are always worth the price of admission. The fact that he always gets incredible actors to portray them is just icing on the cake. "Django Unchained" is no exception, as every single last person in this movie knocks it out of the park, and like any Tarantino film, this is a film with a lot of overt and hidden star power, with bit parts by everyone from Michael Parks, Don Johnson, Bruce Dern and Jonah Hill to Franco Nero, the original Django, who plays the guy at the bar you saw in the trailer.
Ah ha! That whole "The 'D' is silent" / "I know" exchange of dialogue makes sense now, doesn't it?
Jamie Foxx I've never been overly keen on as an actor, but he was admittedly great as Django. He has his quieter moments along with the rage-filled coldness of his more murderous endeavors which balance him out and make him more than just a walking ball of revenge. The scene that stands out for me is a moment when Schultz is lecturing him on not going too far overboard and being too cruel in portraying a black slaver. Django replies that he's simply doing what Schultz told him to do, and embracing the darkness that comes with not only their line of work, but the mission they're attempting. To Django, getting Broomhilda back is worth losing that humanity.
But apart from Jamie Foxx, there were two actors who threatened to run away with this film, and for every moment they are on screen, they did. The first one was Christoph Waltz. Tarantino made Waltz a known name in Hollywood when he cast him as Hans Landa in "Inglorious Basterds," a role he rightly won an Oscar for, and at this point Christoph better be writing Quentin into his will because he's given him another role that is arguably even better. And if he doesn't get another nomination for it I'll be shocked, and if he doesn't get another win it will be a crime.
Dr. King Schultz is potentially my favorite movie character from this year. The calm, cool, and funny demeanor that only Waltz seems capable of conveying just oozes off the screen like he's some kind of freaky snake charmer, and we're all the cobra in the basket swaying along to his flute. Yes, he's a cold-blooded killer without any remorse for anything he does, but he's so damn charming at the same time. Much like Hans Landa was, in fact, but this time he's not a Nazi, so you don't feel quite so bad smiling with him over his jubilant glee at own depravity. In addition, I always got a kick out of the running gag that he constantly apologizes for being difficult to understand as English is not his native tongue, despite being far more eloquent in his speaking of the language than any of the hicks he comes across.
This man is your savior. He acts for your sins.
Whenever Waltz is on the screen, he is the locomotive that drives the film full speed ahead, energizing even the smallest, most laid back scene with not only charm and humor but also suspense, which comes into even greater play whenever the other show-stopper appears to inject some slimy evil into the narrative in a role that plays fantastic counter to one of the best heroes of the year - one of, if not THE best villain of the year: Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie.
I've been waiting for Leonardo DiCaprio to finally turn in an intimidating performance that I completely bought hook, line and sinker, and he blew me away in this movie. I absolutely loved DiCaprio in "Django Unchained." I'm trying really hard to think of a better villain I've seen this year, and it's really difficult to do so. The great thing about Candie is that at first, we only get hints at his psychosis. We know he's a cruel, arrogant bastard right from the get go, as the first time we see him he's cheering on two slaves fighting to the death for his amusement in one of the most difficult scenes in the film to watch, but it isn't until Django and Schultz's deception is revealed to him that we see his inner beast unleashed. The "Skull Scene," as I'll call it will, I believe, go down in film history as one of the defining moments in Tarantino's filmography, and in DiCaprio's career.
Oh good lord...you don't even know the insanity unless you've seen it.
There are few movies I would recommend based on the power and suspense of one scene on its own, especially when that movie is nearly 3 hours long, but I'm serious when I say that the Skull Scene is worth the price of admission by itself, and people who've seen "Django Unchained" know exactly what I'm talking about. It's not only DiCaprio's finest moment in a film showcasing him at his absolute best, it's one of the best scenes Tarantino has ever written. It's right up there with Big Kahuna Burger.
A lot of people talked about the opening scene from "Inglorious Basterds" as unbearably intense. I honestly didn't feel that way. I thought it was a good scene, but from the very beginning I knew exactly how it was going to end. Hans Landa was going to find that Jewish family under the floorboards and kill them. With the Skull Scene, I had NO IDEA what Candie was going to do, and it was insanely tense. It was pins and needles and edge of my seat and gnawed off fingernails. This is what other people must have felt during the opening of "Inglorious Basterds." To me, this was a far superior, and far more suspenseful scene. If you thought Hans Landa's introduction was intense, man are you in for a ride.
Here's your conductor.
Much fuss has been made about the violence in "Django Unchained," and yes it's true that there is a good deal of it. This may not be Tarantino's bloodiest film, as I'm pretty sure "Kill Bill Vol. 1" still holds that record, but the violence that is in this film is overall more difficult to watch. The mandingo scene in particular is a really hard pill to swallow. That being said, they could have gone way further than they did. Suffice to say that I was glad they left a scene were a man gets torn apart by dogs mostly up to our imaginations, which is probably more effective in the long run away.
The other thing that has people in a tizzy is the language. Professional offended person Spike Lee has gone on record saying he refuses to watch the movie because it disrespects his people by using the dreaded "n word" a lot. I'm comfortable in saying three things about Spike Lee. The first thing is that he needs to shut the hell up, just as a general rule. The second thing is that he's an idiot by judging the movie without even seeing it. The third thing is that he's an idiot if he's under the impression that people didn't use "the n word" a whole hell of a lot back in 1858 MISSISSIPPI. So yeah. Basically Spike Lee is a bigoted idiot who needs to shut the hell up. And not remake "Oldboy."
"Django Unchained," much like the rest of Tarantino's work, is difficult to talk about without writing a novel. It's probably enough to say that if you liked anything he's ever done in the past, this is going to be much of the same quirky, homage laden fun that you've seen before. If you're not a fan of his style, well I can't say that you'll like it, but know that he doesn't go quite as overboard with the long sequences of gratuitous dialogue that has become his calling card as he's done in the past. That seems to be people's biggest complaint with him. But there aren't any scenes like the opening of "Reservoir Dogs" or the bar scene in "Inglorious Basterds" or anything like that in this film. The dialogue has a bit more purpose and stays on point the whole time. So there's that for anyone who dislikes that excessive Tarantino indulgence. I kind of missed it, however.
And you know, being from Europe, Schultz could have told us what they call a quarter-pounder in Germany.
"Zay cool it eine Viertel Gewichtseinheit mit Käse."
THE BOTTOM LINE - "Django Unchained" was a delight. A wonderful, cream-filled pastry of delight. It was the fastest 2 hours and 45 minutes I've sat through this year, and I wanted it to keep going at the end. I'm a huge mark for this movie, naturally, as I said to my friend as the music played over the opening shot and title card "I already love this movie," but I think that my opinion isn't too far off the mark for the average viewer. It's violent, brutal, and can be really tough to watch at times because of that, but that's the point. And aside from that the characters are so much fun, led by Oscar worthy performances by both Waltz and DiCaprio, that I find it unthinkable that a person watching wouldn't have an absolute blast. This is Top 10 of 2012 material for sure.
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