Superb new-school Western with Tarantino flair

Rating: 9/10 (7 January 2013)

In a sometimes-boring world of American Cinema, one can always count on the works of Tarantino to deliver some adrenaline to audiences everywhere. His style of zaniness, violence, and gleeful unpredictability has delivered some of the best movies in the past 25 years. Django Unchained is most certainly a Tarantino work, so if you love his antics, then you will not be disappointed. One little difference: This film is quite mature.
Yes, Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill are spectacular movies, but they don't contain the subtle maturity of a Spielberg, Scorsese, or a Nolan. But with Django, it feels like a true-blue bloody Western with adult themes, superb storytelling, and fantastic performances and drama. It is all just mixed in with the special Tarantino touch. And yes, that touch includes Rick Ross blasting over the speakers during a backdrop of 1800s Mississippi.
Django Unchained is about a bounty hunter that recruits a slave that knows the physical appearances of his next targets and all the adventures that follow. In the meantime the slave is on a hunt to locate his wife that was separated from him because of the slave trade. Essentially, this is like a revenge fairy tale for the folks who have had family that suffered from the harsh event in American history.
Quentin Tarantino is one of the best screenwriters as well as best directors in this generation. There was a subtle worry that surrounded how he could handle a period piece without the crutches of clever pop culture and hipster dialogue. But just like Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained is a pleasure to the ears with the great one-liners and dozens of wonderful moments that could have you laughing or could have you on the edge of your seat.
This film is just an overall delight in nearly every sense of the word, from the cinematography to the acting (Christoph Waltz is absolutely amazing) to the editing to the content. There are no clichés in Tarantino's world. And yes, some of his small, small weaknesses do also pop up like when some scenes feel incomplete or when the movie as a whole drags just a bit too thin. However this film is just too much fun for those setbacks top let you down.
Django Unchained is typical Tarantino, pure and simple. A little more mature, a little more subdued, but still delightfully out of control.