Fun movie but not as good as his other work

Rating: Null/10 (20 January 2013)

For those who don't want an in depth review, the easiest way to describe Django Unchained is to say it's Inglorious Basterds set in the Wild West. Just not quite as good.
That's not to say it's bad movie. In the world of movies it is a good movie. However, this is Quentin Tarantino movie and in the world of Tarantino movies, this is not his best work. It feels very stock.
From the very first few seconds of the opening of the movie it is immediately clear this is the Wild West Tarantino style - all kitsch, cool, badass, and darkly funny. However, Tarantino does exceptionally well at highlighting the real tragedy and brutality of American slavery. It's fair to say that although everyone knows slavery is and was bad, they don't really know how bad it was, how cruel it was, and what African-Americans had to go through just to have a chance at survival. Being made fully aware of this through this movie, in graphic visual detail, for me, jarred with the trying to add a cool element to it. On top of that the cartoonish violence, the buckets of blood, spouting like torrents when someone is shot, take away from the the impact of the redemption that Django is looking for. You really want the bad guys to die, but by killing them comically it takes away from the impact and righteousness of their death.
Jamie Foxx does an OK job as Django, he doesn't drive the movie though. Although this is his story the movie is stolen by Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie. His portrayal is a triumph, at once both engaging, funny, yet deeply dark and violent. When he realises the ruse Django and Dr. Schultz (played by Christopher Waltz) are trying to con him in to selling them Djangos wife, his switch from southern gentlemen to violent, racist, murderer grips you.
Christopher Waltz, on the other hand, although he gives a good performance, feels very much as if he is just repeating his performance as Hans Landa in Inglorious Basterds. Furthermore, a lot of the scenes seem to be similar to those in Inglorious Basterds, just with different characters. There are very few stand out scenes. In fact the best scene is a comical moment when the KKK, on their way to kill Django & Dr. Schultz, have an argument about how poorly their masks were made by one of the KKKs wives, and how they can't see where they were going.
Although this movie promises much, it just doesn't deliver as much as it does in other Tarantino movies. It feels much more as if Tarantino was just taking it easy, doing the expected Tarantino things in the Tarantino way, not really pushing himself at all. It doesn't have the visual flair of Kill Bill vol. 1, it doesn't have the pace or freshness of Reservoir Dogs, it doesn't have the coolness or surprises of Pulp Fiction, or the great action scenes from Death Proof and Kill Bill.
Tarantino is right, it's very doubtful it will win best picture at the Oscars. The surprise is it was even nominated at all to be honest. I think the subject matter may have been the reason why, it seems a very political nomination as this is far from Tarantino's best work.