Unchained & Blood Soaked, Tarantino Tackles Westerns

Rating: 8/10 (10 May 2019)

Tarantino is back in form with his ultraviolent blaxploitation drama. It is his first time delving into the Western genre and as usual he succeeds with boldness and brilliance. This film has excellent direction, screenplay, cinematography, settings, costume, score and acting. The visual landscapes are outstanding. All actors involved deliver superlative performances. In particular DiCaprio, Waltz, Goggins, Foxx, Washington and Jackson are superb. The plot is set pre - Civil War and revolves around a recently freed slave named Django. He is freed, sort of, by a seasoned and cunning bounty hunter named Dr. Schultz. The two initially set out to capture three vicious and murderous brothers and are successful. The duo then continues to hunt bounties throughout the South. Eventually they land at the infamous plantation Candieland. Calvin Candie is a sinister racist that passes his time by holding "Mandingo Fights" in which two slaves face off in wrestling matches until the death with betting involved. Once there they find Django's long lost wife Broomhilda which has been Django's goal all along. This is when the cat-n-mouse and war of wills begins to rescue her. Calvin's house slave Stephen overhears a deal negotiated by Schutlz and puts a kibosh on the deal. This results in a duplicitous shootout with two main characters being dispatched. Django is captured, tortured and is removed from Candieland but through some chicanery he convinces the henchmen that are taking him away to return him to Candieland with the offer of great rewards. Once back at Candieland all hell breaks loose as everyone involved learns that Django is not a man to be trifled with. The plot is clever, funny, brutal, violent, unique, cathartic and has a bombastic ending. The film examines the obvious theme of racism. It also explores other themes such as just because Django is freed from his chains is his soul truly free and another is the scrutinizing of greed and power. This is a memorable and captivating film. To this day you'll hear fans of the film quote famous lines such as Django's, "I like the way you die boy". It ranks up with Tarantino's best and one of the very best in it's genre.