Badass and cinematic, if sloppy compared to Inglourious Basterds.

Rating: 7/10 (26 June 2013)

I was very excited for Django Unchained. Inglourious Basterds immediately became my favourite Quentin Tarantino and it's still growing on me since. Now he had Christoph Waltz back and was working in one of my favourite genres. It should've been a sure-fire winner. I think my disappointment with Django is entirely due to my mountain high expectations. I expected it to blow me away every second, hold me in its palm like Basterds and take me off guard. Unfortunately, while it's still great, it can be predictable, it can be slow and it can be contrived. Sometimes it follows similar circumstances as Basterds and it simply doesn't build or payoff any suspense. It's a shame that these moments aren't as great as I expected, with the evilness of the antagonists being over-hyped especially. I still love the concept but it was approached in a way which although I kind of expected, I hoped it would grow from there. It's a sloppy film and revels in excess from beginning to end. I need to give it another viewing with adjusted expectations as the film certainly works as a homage but not as what I wanted it to be. There's a lot I like about it, like the performances and humour, but there's also a lot of missed opportunities where the direction Tarantino did take it may grow on me later. I just feel like it highlights where Basterds succeeds so well rather than Django's own qualities.
8/10