Fabulously fun frolic, stunning imagery & a bucketful of belly laughs.

Rating: 7/10 (25 February 2013)

It's been said that Quentin Tarantino has lost his edge, and the evidence of Death Proof and Inglourious Basterds supports that. But that doesn't mean he's making poor films now. I may look a fool in a couple of days but I predict Django Unchained will pick up two Oscars tomorrow night: Best Original Screenplay for Quentin Tarantino and Best Supporting Actor for Christoph Waltz.
It isn't classic Tarantino and it's far from a great movie, but it has elements of classic Tarantino and is a fabulously fun frolic with some stunning imagery and a bucketful of belly laughs. The dialogue is mostly sharp, frequently funny and largely eschews the trademark (and tedious) irrelevant soliloquies and it dances with as much action as the visual fights and explosions around it.
The principal issue is that Django Unchained is just too long. The 165-minute running time isn't an issue per se, but it has far too many potential climaxes and doesn't know which one to take. More than that, Django Unchained isn't quite sure what type of film it is and has too many slapstick moments and odd scenes that change the direction of the genre without committing fully. Clearly Mr T set out to make a great film but perhaps the danger of having his level of success is that producers are afraid to step in when he veers away from great storytelling and into the danger zone of personal whims.
Waltz, as the dentist-turned-bounty-hunter, Dr King Schultz, who buys Django (Jamie Foxx) his freedom from slavery is superb. He finds the right balance between sincerity and humour to be entirely compelling on the screen and some many of the funniest moments come courtesy of his brilliant delivery. Schultz is a more stable and reserved character than the Inglourious Basterds' Col Hans Landa but he is even more watchable because of it and Waltz seems to have cornered the market in gently off-kilter nut jobs.
Foxx, playing against type in perhaps his most memorable role since Ray, is a joy to watch from the moment he arrives on screen looking like Darnell from My Name is Earl through to his transmogrification into the free man consumed with violent, bloody revenge as he searches for his wife. He duels with humour and steely anger with equal aplomb and is every part the leading man, though he would be little without Waltz by his side.
Both Leonardo DiCaprio, as Calvin Candie, the plantation owner who owns Django's wife, and Samuel L. Jackson, as Stephen, his slave-cum-butler, have a good go at stealing the film and both bite great chunks out of the scenery in their contrasting roles. DiCaprio plays nasty in a cruel, vindictive kind of way and has surely shaken off the pretty boy days of Titanic now, but it is Jackson who has the most indelible effect on us, though that may not be always for the best reasons. Yes, he gives us enough to know that Stephen is as unpleasant as his is funny, but too often his antics as the old slave wander into the world of pantomime and needless slapstick.
Tarantino isn't always generous to his actresses, though he has given us some great female characters. Broomhilda, wife of Django, is no Jackie Brown but Kerry Washington plays her with depth and compassion. She is the beauty, the sincerity and the reason for Django Unchained and as such she carries the weight without fault. While Tarantino serves us up plenty of horror, it is Washington that gives us reason to pause and contemplate the harsh inequalities of life in the deep south of America before the civil war.
Musically, Tarantino is usually on the button, but here he again seems confused with the effect he wishes to create and, whereas Plunkett & Macleane placed modern music in a period film to clever effect, in Django Unchained there are times it jars. The music is inconsistent and occasionally pulls us in the opposite direction to the action. It isn't a reason not to watch this, but at times it just feels wrong.
Tarantino's greatest skill is in the overall feel and effect of his films and, in his third collaboration with DoP Robert Richardson, he is bang on the money with most of his shots. Django Unchained isn't merely sprinkled with great shots, it's littered with them. Tarantino does spectacle well and here he is in overdrive. Heads explode, bodies erupt with geysers of blood, limbs audibly splinter and, in a moment of pure beauty, cotton plants turn into swabs as another demolished body sprays claret the full length of them. Stunning.
Stunning, funny and beautiful. Just too damn long!
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