Good acting despite usual Tarantinoisms

Rating: 7/10 (1 January 2013)

Django Unchained was enjoyable for the first hour, but became progressively unwieldy and winding as it progressed. The usual Tarantinoisms were evident throughout the film - i.e., bold imagery but exaggerated self-indulgent scenes and dialogue, copious blood splattering gore, scene jumping with visible seams, and ridicule that often leans on the side of being trivializing. But of all his films I've seen, this film provided a more appropriate forum for some of his tendencies that are usually inappropriate. For example, this is the one time that his unnecessary and insulting overuse of the N-word had a context for which it made at least some sense, even though it was still featured much more than necessary. It would have given the film more credibility if more research was done for an accurate depiction of facts (e.g. Nefertiti's image paired with the name Cleopatra).
The lead characters did a fantastic job shining through Tarantino's overindulgent dialogue. However, Tarantino's signature lack of restraint constantly looms ready to overshadow their wonderful performances at any point. What unfolds is a movie that was much longer than its content justified, and with a few lazy scenes that didn't amount to anything that moved the story along. I appreciated the overall effort. The atrocities of slavery are unapologetically brought to the forefront for a new generation of people of all ethnicities to view, feel the unnerving discomfort of, and discuss with the renewed fervor that a controversial film typically sparks. It's unfortunate that the usual bad taste that Tarantino films leave is reliably left at the end of this one and competes with the phenomenal performances of the actors. Nonetheless, kudos to Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Kerry Washington for a job well done!