This time, Tarantino's ego is over everything

Rating: 4/10 (10 May 2013)

Since Inglourious Basterds Tarantino's style has evolved and as a Tarantino fan, I am not very much glad about that. Unfortunately, Django doesn't feel like it is an old fashioned, classic Western in Tarantino style! It is rather an anti Western or a postmodern Western. I have not any problem with this directly, but for example by watching Kill Bill, you can get the taste of 80's karate or kung-fu movies, vigilante movies, by watching his friend, Robert Rodriguez's film Planet Terror, you can get the taste of horror B movies, exploitation movies etc. but you can't get the taste of spaghetti Westerns or old fashioned Westerns by watching Django unfortunately. One of the biggest problems of the movie is it doesn't take itself seriously, in other words, Tarantino doesn't take his movie seriously. The first half of the movie is pretty good, interesting, entertaining considering some little flaws, but especially the second half, the movie loses his appeal and becomes dull and even uninteresting at times. Before that, I want to mention that I couldn't buy the character Django itself. A slave who suddenly becomes a cool cowboy didn't work for me (in contrast with The Bride in Kill Bill) At the same time, I didn't think that Jamie Foxx added anything special to the character or to the film and as a cast choice, he was pretty bad. He was plain and simple without any spark like the movie itself. He couldn't an unforgettable figure in the movie and can't be even likable. Christopher Waltz was again the star of the movie, he steals the show from everybody, he was just great and he deserved that Oscar! I am sorry, but without him, the movie would have been almost unbearable for me. Di Caprio simply adds color to the movie without being a cartoonish villain. No word for Samuel L. Jackson. He is like a bulldozer in terms of acting! The movie was overly humorous at times like Basterds and I don't like that. Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Jackie Brown and even Kill Bill were serious movies even if it has a certain amount of humor or funny moments. For example, in a scene Django wears a dress (it was blue as I remember) and as if it is made for laughs! In another scene, there is a "mask" argument and it is like you watch a Western parody! All those harm the movie little by little. With some postmodern touches and tricks like putting modern day songs into his movie, again, Tarantino tries to be different and the most important to surprise his audiences, to amaze his audiences, but if you ask me he fails. Instead of taking old classic elements and turning those into something modern in his hands like he did in Kill Bill, in this movie, he did something different which I would define as "anti". Also as said, the humor harms the seriousness of his movie. In the second half, when Di Caprio gets on the stage, unfortunately, the movie doesn't get better, just the opposite, it becomes uninterested and less exciting in comparison with the long first half. When they go to Calvin Candle's place (Di Caprio), somehow the movie lost its spark and also became less entertaining. May be it is because no "Western" anymore in the second half, instead a drama with lots of conversations and payoff! As said, Django is not a pure Western or a modernized Western, it is more like an anti Western or post modern Western. Welcome this "a breath of fresh air" choice, but in the end, it isn't a great, brilliant or that impressive film. Also I couldn't get that cinema feeling that other Tarantino movies have in this movie, especially in the second half. The another big problem of the movie was sudden, exaggerating and out of place violence scenes. After a slow paced drama, suddenly, the movie turns into an extremely bloody action movie. The blood effects were looking like red paint or a kind of superficial liquid which killed my suspension of disbelief totally. This is exciting! but also very superficial, exaggerating and out of place! I had expected some realistic, old fashioned but Tarantino style action, but couldn't find it. There is not any built up tension, no character conflict, no suspense etc. I can't say that Django was a solid or subtle film. The story editing of the film was problematic either. The movie starts like a revenge movie, but couldn't fulfill that, then it becomes a road movie for a short time, but it couldn't fulfill that either. Then, it becomes a drama, later suddenly action and it goes on. Also, the last one or two minutes of the film seemed me uninviting or subfusc. Django Unchained is Tarantino's Machete, a disappointing and uneven experience.