The best Western ever!

Rating: 10/10 (14 February 2013)

Quentin Tarantino has made some dastardly good films. Kill Bill Vol.1 remains one of my all time favourite films, Pulp Fiction is a captivating classic, Inglorious Basterds is one hell of a gem and Kill Bill Vol.2 is too. When I heard that Quentin was going to doing a spaghetti western I was extremely positive about the idea, despite not having a great taste for the Western genre. The idea of a Quentin Western was very attractive, and his style and writing skills looked as though they could perfectly fit the part of a Western. It turns out that all my feelings were right! For Quentin has created one of the best films I've seen, and certainly the best Western I've seen which makes Clint Eastwood's, Unforgiven look like Bratz: The Movie! (And I really liked Unforgiven).
Before the film even starts we get a taste of all the things we love about Quentin, as the Columbia logo is made to look retro. We then get some great pastiche titles over some terrific shots of a chain of slaves walking across the desert and into a forest. Of course we are then graced by the devastating presence of Christoph Waltz, who has a humorously over-sized tooth on his dentist waggon. Christoph gives us yet again another impeccable performance as our bounty-hunter hero, proving that he can make as good a hero as his wonderful villain in Inglorious Basterds.
The first sequence is gloriously engaging and entertaining, as we delve right into the plot with Christoph buying Django straight away, and of course it's not quite that simple... From then on we have a string of compelling moments as we watch the pair, who make a marvellous, funny and often touching double act, go on a bounty hunt with some of it even for revenge, which is a theme I'm very keen on! However, things get kicked up another notch when Django and Shultz decide to go and rescue Django's wife who's been kidnapped by the deliriously evil, Calvin Candie (what a great name!)
Leonardo Di Caprio puts on a great performance as Calvin, who appears sneaky and calculated, like all the best villains. However, Leo does take a terrifyingly intense turn when Calvin gets angry! It's a pretty intense sequence where Leo actually does draw real blood! Now that's some powerful acting. Of course, the dialogue is tight and suspenseful and hopefully Quentin is pretty much guaranteed to win the Oscar for best original screenplay. The film is packed full of tension when the duo are with Calvin, and the suspense only rises at dinner-time which escalates into exactly the wild west shootout I was hoping for.
There's a sequence that is almost matching of Kill Bill Vol.1 where there's gallons of blood flying around! It's madly entertaining to watch and possibly one of the greatest scenes ever! Quentin has created two brilliant heroes who we can root for and care about. The flashback sequences with Django and his wife really involves you in the story, and some of them are rather emotional. I was almost as filled as much rage as Django when he first saw his wife being ill-treated, and just like Kill Bill I couldn't wait to see Django and Shultz exact revenge. Think of it as Kill Kandie! Samuel L Jackson is also brilliant as Candie's servant, he's often hilarious and also very nasty, which sums up Django Unchained! The film is often really funny, with the idiotic Ku Klux Klan being a comedy highlight. The production designs are also breath-taking, especially Candieland's rich set.
Whilst Quentin's films can be a tad dialogue heavy, Django Unchained seems to find the right balance between talking and action. The action often arrives thick and fast and surprisingly. Also, the dialogue isn't that much of a chore to watch either, because it's so brilliantly written and full of suspense like the bar scene in Inglourious Basterds. But Django Unchained is even better than Inglourious Basterds! Its a Western with a difference, full of great characters, stupendous screenplay and knock-out directing.
It's outrageous that Quentin isn't up for best director! Django Unchained looks amazing. It's a film that you can watch numerous times, as the film flows perfectly. There's one point when I thought that it was going to end, but it actually carried on for another half an hour or so, and it was great! Django Unchained is a triumph. It starts off amazing and doesn't let up, in fact it becomes more and more compelling as the film goes on. And at 2hrs 45mins the film surprisingly rarely drags! It really doesn't feel that long, but time flies when you're having fun and Django is a lot of fun!