If there is one director where I never want to miss one of his movies at the cinema, it is Quentin Tarantino. Although I did not see Reservoir Dogs at the cinema, I have been to each and every following release. The movie was released here a while ago, but through various circumstance I was not able to go yet and was afraid I’d miss it, until this past weekend that was. Although it didn’t play on any big screens any more, I was very happy to be able to see it in the cinema.
Set during slavery, the movie opens with various slaves being transported and being stopped by Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), who is looking to buy one specific slave, who can help him finding some people. That slave is Django (Jamie Foxx) and after the shocking opening the two start working together, something which shocks everyone they meet. They get to know each other better and Dr. Schultz finds out that Django is a married man who has been separated with his wife. He decides to help him find her.
Tarantino’s movies always have their own recognisable style, which usually is a mix of various genres. This movie is a mix of western, comedy and action movie. Especially the comedy part surprised me as I wasn’t expecting this in a movie about slavery. There is a lot of violence (and blood), but because of the comedy the movie has a lightness to it. The jokes also didn’t feel out-of-place, but added to the atmosphere. Christoph Waltz shows that him teaming up with Tarantino again (after Inglorious Basterds) is a good decision as he has the same presence as his character Hans Landa. Jamie Foxx holds his own as well and is almost a Shaft like character, someone who is cool and in control even when he has to face Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a man who treats his slaves extremely bad. Although Django Unchained isn’t Tarantino’s best movie, it was a very enjoyable one and not a movie I will forget any time soon. With Tarantino stating that he wants to stop making movies, I hope he will not, because it would mean missing a great writer and director.
Great flick Nostra. Not Tarantino’s finest as it’s a little overlong and doesn’t quite know when to finish but I still loved every minute of it.
Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed it as well and saw it with an audience who laughed a lot.
Glad you liked it, even though you didn’t think it was QT’s best. I think I gave it a score of 7.5. The story I found quite simple, but the screenplay quite wordy.
It entertained me and I liked the wordy script, it is something I expect from Tarantino movies.
I think you want that score to be higher don’t you!
Hahaha, I would have loved it if I would have been able to give this a 10, but I just didn’t feel as strong about what happened compared to other movies. So not a bad movie but nothing which really wowed me.
Nice review. The climax went on a little too long but otherwise a great film and proof Tarantino doesn’t disappoint.
Yeah, it could have been shortened slightly…