A wild trip back through time with some of Hollywood's greatest actors and one of Hollywood's greatest directors!

Rating: 10/10 (20 January 2013)

After becoming Martin Scorsese's mole and making great American classics with Scorsese (2004's The Aviator, 2006's The Departed, and, as some people agree, 2002's Gangs of New York and 2010's Shutter Island), Leonardo DiCaprio has gone on to work with another Hollywood great, the man inspired by DiCaprio's mole in Scorsese: Quinton Tarantino.
The outcome is Django Unchained, which unites DiCaprio and Tarantino in a much-awaited collaboration, along with a powerful ensemble cast supporting both DiCaprio and Tarantino: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz (making his sophomore collaboration with Tarantino three years after Inglorious Basterds), Samuel L. Jackson (marking Jackson's fourth collaboration with Tarantino, following Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, and Kill Bill: Volume 2), Kerry Washington, Don Johnson, and, for a cameo appearance, Franco Nero (for those of you unfamiliar with Nero, Nero is the man who played the head villain in both Die Hard 2 and Force Ten From Navarone). The story stars Foxx as Django, a slave in Texas who, many years ago, was sold apart from his wife, Broomhilda (Washington). Broomhilda has gone on to a Southern plantation in Mississippi, owned and controlled by an infamous and cruel slave owner named Calvin J. Candie (DiCaprio). The minute that Django is rescued by a German bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), he seizes control of the opportunity to rescue Broomhilda. Before reaching that point, however, Django and Dr. Schultz are going to go through Hell and back. And they may (knowingly) never escape up against the cruel and manipulative, yet brilliantly smart tactics used against them by Calvin J. Candie and his fellow slave owners.
For the two and a half hours given to us by Tarantino, we find ourselves on a wild trip back through time. For having shot Django Unchained between 2011-2012, Tarantino gives the film a perfect look and atmosphere of the year 1858 (when the picture takes place). The buildings, the streets of dirt, the clotheseverything looks impeccably like it is 1858. The plantations in Tennessee (used for Don Johnson's character of "Big Daddy") and Mississippi (used for Leonardo DiCaprio's Calvin J. Candie character) are beautiful and look not only old-fashioned, but also just as you would expect for Southern plantations to look like (trust me-I'm a Southerner!) The adventure that all of Tarantino's characters go through in Django Unchained are pretty fun as well, and they have great humor to them. Who could ever forget Don Johnson leading a team of men who have trouble with the sheets used by the Ku Klux Klan, or a slave referring to a slave owner as "snowball" and getting away with it?!!?!!!!!!!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!!!?!?!?!?! All of the actors execute both the comedy and the suspense impeccably. Leonardo DiCaprio shines in one of his first performances as a villain (and the villain whom Tarantino claims he had the most trouble bringing to life on the big screen, compared to every other villain character he has ever created). DiCaprio and Tarantino, together, bring to life an honest portrayal of the cruelty of many slave owners (next to those who provided an education for their slaves and never even beat them).
In spite of all of the good, there will be many people upset by Django Unchained. Spike Lee is one of them (while his criticism is understandable, please remember that Mr. Lee has not actually seen the picture—and says that he is not going to, saying that seeing the picture would be disrespectful to his ancestors who were all slaves). You have Tarantino's constant use of the "N" word—which is honest to the picture, of course, but always brings an uncomfortable feeling when it is used by a non-African American director. Much of the cruelty inflicted upon the slave characters in Django Unchained is very brutal, and a "little bit too much." Entertainment? The picture itself is, but a few scenes are a bit too harsh for entertainment.
Regardless, Tarantino does not glorify the "N" word, but instead uses it to give an honest depiction of what things were like back in the south in 1858. They say that "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"—and both Jamie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson have come out and said that they understand Tarantino's material for what it is as a picture, and for what it is not: a picture glorifying racism. Next to this, many of the slave characters of Django Unchained, when in peril, find happy endings. And the end is happy as well.
Django Unchained is not for everyone. Regardless, if you are a fan of Tarantino, DiCaprio, and/or western pictures, you will most likely find yourselves in for a great treat.