Good film, but it's been built up too much.

Rating: 7/10 (10 February 2013)

I was really excited to see 'Django Unchained,' knowing it was a Tarantino movie and all. My all-time favorite movie is Pulp Fiction, and upon reading that this movie may one day even rival such a masterpiece for the title of Tarantino's best work, I got REALLY excited. However, it turned out to be blasphemy.
I felt that Tarantino simply indulges too much in 'Django.' The movie is about an angry black guy killing while people, and I just think there are too many scenes where Tarantino wants to please himself and the audience, show them what they want to see. The story isn't inventive enough and, for me, the movie tries to make up for its shortcomings in this aspect with exaggerated duration and great music. Yeah, I really liked the music, even the rap bits, but the movie is unnecessarily long. After being underwhelmed by it, I heard positive reactions mostly going in the way of 'there's a little bit of everything.' And there is. There's intelligence, humor, violence, blood, and conversations that at best only remind us of 'Pulp Fiction.' And there's a whole lot of scenes that are there just for the viewer's pleasure. In my opinion, throwing a little bit of everything into the mix doesn't make for a great movie. Who wants to hear good music will likely download the OST after watching this. Who wants to see gore will have his fill, and those that want to have a laugh will have a better time than watching most of the sitcoms that are on offer today. But when everything is said and done, this doesn't come anywhere near Tarantino's best.
Now, about the cast. I thought Di Caprio is the best in this movie, for me he outshines Jackson, Foxx and Waltz. They all do a good job, but Di Caprio took it up a notch, and Jackson delivers a beautiful performance as well. Basically, the movie really steps it up once those two are in the picture. Also, it was nice to see The Shield's Walton Goggins co- star. Bottom line is, this is some cast we have here and some great performances.
You will get your money's worth with this one and you'll have some fun, but don't expect an all-time great that will blow you away.