Django is a slave whose brutal history with his former owners lands him
face-to-face with German-born
bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz. Schultz is
on the trail of the murderous Brittle brothers, and only Django can
lead him to his bounty. The unorthodox Schultz acquires Django with a
promise to free him upon the capture of the Brittles - dead or alive.
Success leads Schultz to free Django, though the two men choose not to
go their separate ways. Instead, Schultz seeks out the South's most
wanted criminals with Django by his side. Honing vital hunting skills,
Django remains focused on one goal: finding and rescuing Broomhilda, the
wife he lost to the slave trade long ago. Django and Schultz's search
ultimately leads them to Calvin Candie, the proprietor of "Candyland,"
an infamous plantation. Exploring the compound under false pretenses,
Django and Schultz arouse the suspicion of Stephen, Candie's trusted
house slave. Their moves are marked, and a treacherous organization
closes in on them. If Django and Schultz are to escape with Broomhilda,
they must choose between independence and solidarity, between sacrifice
and survival.
Review: This is one of those films that I have heard people praise highly and on the other side I have heard people attack it for supposedly being racist or just a ripoff. I personally am apart of the people who praise this film. I took what people on the negative side had said and kept it in mind when watching the film. For those who claim it is a ripoff well I have to say that it is not, the only things in common with Django (1966) is that of the main character having the same name and the revenge plot of the film. Well enough of that lets get into this review!
I went into this film a little skeptical but mostly happy to finally see it and what I got was something a little bit different than expected. I knew the film was going to be violent and bloody and that is what it did bring to the table, but in my eyes in more of a graphic novel or comic book style very much the way Ichi The Killer was brought to film. To myself what gives me that impression is the over the top violence and blood that squirts out like a fountain every time someone is shot. I actually like it that they went that way with it because it takes it to another place and helps the viewer have that much more fun with the film.
One thing I want to address is the fact that people like Spike Lee seem to act like this film glorifies slavery, now if they would of seen this fucking film they would of realized that it doesn't at all. There are some very graphic scenes that show how bad slavery was and how cold the slave owners could be, one scene shows a slave that tried to runaway viciously torn apart by the slave owners dogs. If that scene doesn't show the viewer how disturbing and wrong slavery was than that person is a very cold hearted person. This film also got attacked for using the word "nigger" which is an offensive word to myself as well as millions of other people, but the bottomline is that it was a word they used during the time the film is supposed to take place.
Now lets get onto what really made this film so likeable to me and that is the cast. There are some seriously great actors here, from the always impressive talents of Jamie Foxx (Django Freeman), Christopher Waltz (Dr. Schultz), and Leonardo DiCaprio (Calvin Candi) along with other familiar faces like Samuel L. Jackson, Walton Goggins, and Dennis Christopher. There are alot of times when I see a film with alot of known faces it tends to turn me off, but in this case the people they used were perfect for their roles. I especially loved the character Dr. Schultz, he was serious but had a sense of humor. I must mention that I actually did like Tarantino's cameo as one of the Australian slave owners and also Franco Nero
As many film fans already know that when it comes to a Tarantino film you will get alot of dialogue and even way too long of conversations between characters like in Death Proof. It may be just me, but I didn't think that Django Unchained had long winded dialogue or stale dialogue. Another thing that is involved that Tarantino does alot is he adds humor into the film that really works. There is one scene in particular that was so over the top that it made me laugh, in the scene they are having a shoot out in Candi's mansion and this one guy on the ground keeps getting shot from both sides and the blood kept flying like a geyser. You'll have to see it to get why it was funny. Overall this was a fun film that does deserve the praise it has been given! Do me a favor and please go check out the original 1966 film Django first before you see this film!
-Daniel "Damnation" Lee
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Genre: Action/Western
DVD & Blu-ray Release Year: 2013
Theatrical Release Year: 2013
Time Length: 165 mins.
Company: Anchor Bay Entertainment
