This maybe my least favorite Tarantino film.

Rating: 8/10 (6 September 2019)

Depending on where you stand, this film has splitted moviegoers. From his overuse of the racial term and people simply finding this film frustrating as he doesn't take this matter seriously as other films about slavery, people tend to not like this film. Despite all of this, I still enjoyed it and I do somewhat agree with the complaints that I have heard. He does use that particular word too much and it did become redundant after a while. I loved the majority of this film due to Tarantino's great talent behind the camera as he is able to have some pretty cool shots and bringing in the humor and shock factor very well.
Adding his take on the western with a mixture of blacksploitation, the plot of this film was quite enjoyable. The first act introduces the main characters well, being performed greatly by the actors who made their friendship believable. The third act brought the over the top violence and entertainment factor very well. However, I really felt that, despite the second act having some great scenes, this is the weakest part of the film and it completely halted the movie for me. I loved the introduction of Calvin Candie, portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio and the interactions that he has with the main characters shows how great Tarantino's writing is. It is what happens after this scene that really has me feel the pace slow down. It felt like Tarantino wanted to focus more on the violence of slavery and overpushed the brutality of it with scenes that are very uncomfortable to watch and overstayed their welcome by stretching it out for longer than it should have been. It is when they are having dinner when the film picks back its pace and you will watch an incredible performance by DiCaprio in a scene that is very intense and well shot.
Tarantino brings in great performances and there are two major standouts. Christolph Waltz once again was great as he portrayed Dr. King Schultz. His character is very likable and Waltz is so charismatic to where he is able to bring in a deep personality to the character. The other stand out is DiCaprio as he also brings his charm and that scene I mentioned earlier shows why his character is very menacing and downright scary. I was in awe watching him act in this scene and this scene alone is one of the reasons why I love DiCaprio as an actor. About Jamie Foxx, he was good and I did like his character, but I felt that he didn't wow me like the other two. He made the character cool and I enjoyed watching him shoot up some baddies. It's just that it felt more like a character he played in his previous action flicks. As much of a great actress she is, Kerry Washington was really wasted here. All she did in the film was to scream and react. There were too many reaction shots of her and she was under utilized to the point that it had me wondering if her character was actually important or not. Basically, this character could have been portrayed by anyone.
I'm always debating which film of his is weaker and I tend to lean toward "Jackie Brown" and this film, just due to the fact that there were a lot of recognizable flaws that made me lose interest with the story, which had me wondering when the pacing would come back. But with Tarantino's talent and all of the positives I've mentioned earlier, this film is still worth watching, despite the huge negatives that I had.