Works really well despite so much of it seeming to be at odds with itself

Rating: Null/10 (26 January 2013)

Beyond the name and a cameo by Franco Nero, the story here has nothing in common with the original film series being referenced, although the genre and the design do of course have a lot of common ground. The story here sees a German dentist-turned-bounty-hunter freeing a slave who can identify three men who have a considerable bounty on their heads. Despite being an one-time deal, the partnership works so well that the two stay together for more work, although the slave (Django) only has one overall goal – to find his wife and buy her freedom.
The film opens with all the tropes that tell you that this will be an exploitation-style western; the music is of its time, the credits are blood red in that wonderfully gaudy manner and the camera movement is knowing but effective, and indeed this is what we get from the film as a whole – a bloody exploitation western that refers the grindhouse films that Tarantino idolizes so much. However to suggest that this is all the film does is to somehow miss the fact that it does so much more. Despite being trashy in some regards, it is brutally unsettling in others – some scenes of cruelty to slaves are very hard to stomach. On top of this we have the usual dialogue scenes that Tarantino is very good at – just like Inglorious Bastards had some incredibly tense scenes of just talking, Django has many great dialogue scenes – some are conversations with a bubbling tension, others are monologues delivered to camera in such a way that you are gripped by what the character is saying. Then we have the other thing Tarantino – sudden bloody violence, and it is very bloody here – excessive, OTT and very well executed. And just in case this mix isn't convoluted enough, the film also takes the time to have plenty to laugh at whether it is the flamboyantly written characters or the comedy set-pieces which include a clan raid having wardrobe issues. It really shouldn't work – I have seen other films trying to do several things in the same film and not make it work but yet here it does, and remarkably so.
Credit to Tarantino because he really doesn't put a foot wrong here (aside from casting himself when he can't act). He delivers a great exploitation film that, much like Inglorious, allows the audience this bloody fantasy retribution with the underdog hero, but also has scenes of genuine tension, scenes of great dialogue and others of genuine hilarity – and most importantly none of them seem out of place. The length of the film put me off a bit because the cinema releases ahead of awards ceremonies all seem to run long as if that counts in their favor – but in the case of Django the time really flew. It helps that it is really well filmed too; the camera movement is powerful, the shot selection good and With such material to work the cast all give great performances – again despite so many of them having different aspects to deliver on. Waltz is a great presence, as he was in Inglorious – he fits the dialogue really well and captivates with his colorful character. Surprising to me was how much I liked Foxx – he downplayed when he needed to but yet was also able to step up into the exploitation hero when required. Di Caprio captures real smiling menace and again I was surprised by how well he did it. Samuel L Jackson isn't in the film till the final hour or so, but when he arrives he joins a very crowded screen of people all commanding attention – but his house slave is brilliantly loathsome and convinces as a man so long surviving that he has forgotten this is what he is doing. Washington has less time but she sells the emotional part of the film by being so convincingly brutalized. The supporting cast is almost too heavy in famous faces, but mostly they do not distract but rather add with their various turns.
I was taken by surprised by how much I enjoyed this film and how the time flew. It mixes so much together that should clash and damage itself, but yet it all works really well (even the mixing of genre music and modern hip-hop!). I'm not always a fan of Tarantino's grind house and exploitation referencing, but here it works really well across the board.