Tarantino does it again by letting Django off the chain!

Rating: 9/10 (24 January 2014)

Some say he is a copier. Some (myself included) say that he is a talented, brilliant genius. Whatever you think about Quentin Tarantino, you can rarely get away with having apathetic reaction to his style and work. His latest effort, "Django Unchained," is no exception. This time, the much-debated filmmaker depicts the topic that most present-day Americans would prefer to forget and erase out of their country's history - slavery. The movie is set in the Deep South, just a couple of years before the spark of the Civil War.
Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a former dentist and now a full-time bounty hunter, crosses the South in search of a notorious gang, the Brittle Brothers. Having no idea what the brothers look like, he finds a slave, Django (Jamie Foxx), who is able to identify them and has some personal business with them. Schultz "purchases" Django and agrees to free him if he helps him in tracking down the outlaws. During that time, the former slave gets some practice in "the bounty-hunting business", as the doctor trains him for a "deputy". After a fortuitous turn of events, the Brittle Brothers are brought to justice (in Tarantino's way, of course). Django, being a free man, plans to rescue his wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), whom he has lost during an auction. Along with Schultz, he embarks on a quest to free the woman he loves from the hands of infamous Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a powerful plantation owner. As the two bounty hunters, under false pretext, visit the plantation Candyland, they provoke the suspicions of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), Candie's trusted and most-privileged slave... Will they make it out alive and with Broomhilda before it's too late? From the very beginning, we are treated with features that Tarantino's films offer. The great landscapes, music, performances, witty dialogues and large amounts of "red paint".
The visuals are amazing, from a Texan landscapes that open the movie to the views of Candyland. Robert Richardson, Tarantino's cinematographer, who previously worked with him on "Inglourious Basterds" and both volumes of "Kill Bill", has outdone himself again. Every scene looks beautiful and gives off the proper atmosphere of the late 1850s of the American South.
One of the greatest things about Tarantino's movies is his music choice. As the opening credits roll over the opening scene of the chained slaves led by two slave drivers, the original "Django" theme is heard. There are also some masterpieces from Ennio Morricone (including "Ancora Qui", written by the maestro specially for the film), and other artists who worked on movie scores in the past. We also get to hear a couple of modern song, for instance "Who Did That to You?", performed by John Legend and written for the film itself, and the mix of James Brown's "Payback" and 2-Pac's "Untouchable." Despite the fact that the film takes place in the late 1850s, Tarantino manages for these pieces not to be out of place and go perfectly with his film and his vision.
Regarding the performances, Christoph Waltz is a show stealer, as he was in "Inglourious Basterds," in which he portrayed the most likable villain in the cinematic history, Colonel Hans Landa of the SS. Here, his performance is by no means worse. He seems to be a man who perfectly understands Tarantino and his style of writing and has the ability to bring it up in viewer's eyes even more. Samuel L. Jackson is hilarious as a clever house slave. His characterization makes him hardly recognizable, and his acting as Stephen is possibly even better than the one of his Jules from "Pulp Fiction". Then, there is Leonardo DiCaprio, playing a role that he has not played that often. In this film, he goes away from the image of a lover boy to portray a brutal, sadistic and evil "businessman." His transformation is great and so is his acting. If any of you, ladies, are still in love with Jack from "Titanic", do yourselves a favor - watch this movie, change your mind and start looking for another boyfriend.
In this instance (as always), despite the fact that the movie deals with a serious and very controversial topic, Tarantino manages to let in a substantial dose of humor. Throughout, there are some of the most comical sequences that the filmmaker has ever put into his work. Considering all of them (including the hilarious "early KKK" scene), I would say that "Django Unchained" may be Tarantino's funniest movie yet.
Despite the running time of 165 minutes, while watching the movie, you will never glance at your watch - you will care too much about what is happening on the screen. It's all here - action scenes, a large amount of suspense and brilliant writing (which, in Tarantino's case, is as good as, if not better than, the action), and even a love story (which is not often a major part of Tarantino's works). There is enough to make everyone happy, despite things that may make you feel uncomfortable, such as racism and the cruelty of slavery as portrayed. Consequently, as Candie remarks in the film, "Adult supervision is required." This is a Quentin Tarantino film in the phrase's full meaning.