You know
what you’re getting yourself in for when you watch Tarantino. There’s mostly a
lot of ridiculously amazing violence, a fantastic soundtrack, and a less than
linear story. That’s also pretty much what you get with Django Unchained.
Django
(Jamie Foxx), a slave in the pre-Civil War deep South, is unexpectedly bought
and freed by German ex-dentist Dr Shultz (Christoph Waltz). Shultz needs his
help to kill three brothers, wanted dead or alive by state authorities, and so
claim their bounty. Realising they make
a good team, Schultz and Django spend the winter together bounty hunting with
glorious style. Django is, of course, a natural with a gun and soon can imagine
a future when he will have enough money to do whatever he wants with his life.
What he
wants is to find and rescue his wife Broomhilda, whom he was separated from by
evil plantation owners after they tried to run away together. Rumour has it
that she’s now at Candie Land – one of the largest plantations in the area,
owned by the mean and ruthless Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Candie spends
a large portion of his time and his wealth buying and selling ‘mandingo’
fighters – black slaves who fight to the death for the entertainment and
gambling pleasures of rich white men. Django and Shultz, realising that they’ll
never manage to persuade Candie to sell Broomhilda if they ask directly, pretend
to be interested in buying themselves a mandigo fighter, with the hopes of
casually buying the pretty German-speaking slave as well while they’re there.
There are so
many positive things that I want to say about this film, beginning with just how
cool Jamie Foxx is. I realise now that I’ve never actually seen him in
anything, although I first heard of him because of Ray and how awesome that’s
supposed to be, and heard his name mentioned every now and again in connection with
various films that I’ll never watch (Miami Vice, Valentine’s Day, Horrible
Bosses). I think he’s brilliant.
The
sleekness, cleverness, and overly-elaborateness of the bounty hunting plans by
Shultz is also a joy to behold. Even if things go wrong, he remains calm and
cool and just deals with it, with undeniable style. I know I’ve ranted on
before about watching a smooth plan just work well and how good that is to see.
Leo. I will
always love Leo, and I would like to make completely clear that this is not
because of some silly teenage girl crush based on Titanic and Romeo and Juliet.
That boy can act. Despite being nominated a few times, he’s never won an Oscar,
or apparently any other important award, but surely has deserved some for some
of his roles. What’s Eating Gilbert Grape being a prime example. He’s awesome
in this too, and very nicely dressed as well.
Samuel L.
Jackson. He’s so good!
The
violence. It’s brilliant, and (mostly) comically OTT. There are a few moments
with the brutality of the white slave-drivers where you really have to brace
yourself for what you’re watching or look away if you really can’t take it, but
I hope that these small parts don’t put anyone of seeing it. It’s worth it,
even if it is uncomfortable.
The only bad
thing that I can possibly say about this is Tarantino felt the need to appear
in it, as he so often does. He managed to resist for both Kill Bill films, so
why start again? He cannot act, and he’s very annoying, but never mind eh?
Overall –
this film is gob-smacking, cool, and everyone in the world should watch it.
Unless you really really don’t like violence – then you probably won’t like it.
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