Django Unchained Review

Director: Quentin Tarantino

Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, Samuel L. Jackson

Running time: 165 minutes

Certificate: 18

Synopsis: With the help of his mentor, a slave-turned-bounty hunter sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner…

You can expect many things from a Quentin Tarantino movie: it will feature a bunch of ‘cool ass’ characters delivering killer dialogue, have a superb soundtrack, come with a few nods to cult movies from the past, and undoubtedly create a huge wad of controversy. It will also be violent… very violent. And Tarantino’s eighth proper directorial feature, DJANGO UNCHAINED, comes with all of the above.

Branded as a ‘southern,’ the film is set around the time of slavery in the US, but is, as the director says, not a film about slavery itself. Instead, DJANGO UNCHAINED is a love story that shares not just all of the aforementioned Tarantino traits, but also a theme that has run through quite a lot of his previous efforts – revenge. And in keeping with the traditional western, there’s also a good dose of retribution.

Jamie Foxx delivers a superb lead performance, as we’ve come to expect from him following his Academy Award for RAY, and he’s joined by stellar support from his on-screen wife Kerry Washington, who is actually one of the only few female characters. There’s also a superb turn from Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson as 70-something Stephen, not to mention popcorn villain Leonardo DiCaprio who, in his first true outing as the bad guy, positively devours QT’s words and spits them out with eloquence and gusto in equal measure. And then there’s Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz – once again deservedly Oscar nominated – this time one of the good guys. Waltz is easily the best part of the film, and as with INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, the most entertaining character to watch.

As for Tarantino himself, the screenplay and direction are as explosive as a stick of bandit’s dynamite. It’s superbly written, and the story, when you break it down, is actually quite simple. There are obvious nods to the spaghetti westerns of the 1970s, and even hints of THE WILD BUNCH and other Sam Peckinpah and Sergio Leone films, as well as the Franco Nero DJANGO originals (Nero also makes a superb little cameo). The violence is indeed present and correct, but in line with previous Tarantino efforts, the most shocking is always what you don’t see – his use of audio proves more powerful than the bullet-ridden splatter fests he sprinkles throughout.

The main issue is the film’s length. At 165 minutes, DJANGO suffers from a plodding second half leading up to stop-start climax, and could have done with a clean 30 miniutes shaved from it. However, make no mistake, this is up there with Quentin Tarantino’s best, and his wish for the film to be remembered with acclaim 20 years from now may come true, just like his debut nearly two decades ago.

  DJANGO UNCHAINED arrives in UK cinemas on the 18^th January, 2013 and is now playing in US cinemas.