Tarantino Unchained

Rating: 10/10 (27 December 2012)

How is this possible? How can Tarantino keep pumping out consistently amazing films? "Django Unchained" is another period piece following 2009's "Inglourious Basterds" and "Django" is every bit as brutal as "Basterds." In fact, "Django" may be Tarantino's most brutal film yet. Not just violent, but racially charged, cringe-inducing ferocity. The film is rated R by the MPAA that sights, among other things, "a vicious fight." Vicious, indeed. Perhaps the most vicious I have ever seen. The plot concerns Christoph Waltz's Dr. King Schultz purchasing Jamie Foxx's Django since Django can identify the Brittle Brothers, who have bounties on their heads. Dr. Schultz is a bounty hunter and Django soon joins in on the profession seeing as the prospect of killing white people for money is too enticing to pass up. What comes next is a dazzling display involving a rich plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio in a role he sinks his teeth deeply into) and his loyal house slave (Samuel L. Jackson). The performances alone are enough to make this film worthwhile, it's about time we get another astonishing performance from Waltz after "Basterds." It's no coincidence that Tarantino constantly gets great performances out of his actors. The man is a great director. Not only a great director, but a great writer as well. True, the female characters are left a tad hollow, but the well-rounded male characters distract from this. Weaving a tale of submission and dominance, Tarantino walks a fine line and the result is sometimes hysterical (I found myself laughing uncontrollably at the KKK scene), sometimes tragic, often brutal but always entertaining. Quentin Tarantino's career is one that hit the gas with "Reservoir Dogs" and hasn't touched the brakes since.