Many lovely details and an outstanding acting disarm the mediocre story

Rating: 8/10 (12 January 2013)

Here it comes, Quentin Tarantino's new blockbuster and Italo Western homage "Django Unchained". Personally, I happen to find Tarantino's movies quite a mixed bag as he has done anything from stupid disaster pieces such as "Kill Bill Vol. 1" up to very thought out stuff like "Inglorious Basterds". His new movie is among the better ones he has released but still not the best.
What I immediately liked about the movie is the camera work with many wide angles, natural Stillleben and shots on the eyes of the actors to capture their emotions. If you like directors like Sergio Leone, you will know what I'm talking about and if you happen to like him, you will also adore this movie. The opening scene presenting the cast already gets you into an old school western atmosphere. The amazing soundtrack is another strong point all along this movie. After some very explicit scenes, Tarantinos puts a vivid and catchy track that grabs your attention and makes it easier to digest what you've just seen. Tarantino certainly has a good feeling for impressive settings and gripping atmospheres.
He puts a lot of details in his movie once again but only good connoisseurs may detect all of them. In one scene, the new Django Jamie Foxx sits next to a bar and an old guy who spoke Italian asks him his name and how it's spelled. Well, this old guy is Franco Nero who portrayed Django for the very first time and that's what makes this scene so funny as he knows off course how this name is spelled. If you recognize Franco Nero, you will laugh out loud during that scene, anybody who doesn't know him may just find that scene overlong and strange. A similar event happens towards the end when Tarantino appears himself as an actor which is another funny moment.
In general, this movie has a lot of humour once again that contrasts the long dialogues as well as the detailed killing scenes. This aspect works very well thanks to the acting of Christoph Waltz who is just amazing and incredibly diversified. He's not as great as in "Inglorious Basterds" but comes very close and would deserve one more Academy Award for his acting in my opinion. That being said, the actors simply do an incredible job in this film. Jamie Foxx is a quite diversified character and one really cares about his fate until the end of the movie which is very important. Samuel L. Jackson plays a great villain and does it in a very credible way. Leonardo DiCaprio happens to play in more and more dark and mature films and convinces once again as unpredictable maniac.
This being said, everything about this movie seems to be perfect but one very important thing is missing: the story. The movie has no twists or surprises and also includes many lengths after a strong beginning and just before an explosive ending. These lengths include the scenes on the way to Candie Land or several dialogues inside the mansion. These scenes are only saved by the strong acting by Waltz, Jackson and Co. but would ruin a movie if they were done by average actors. This movie would have been much more fluid if it was cut down to two hours of running time. The original Italo Westerns like "Once Upon A Time In The West" had better story lines and a few mysterious characters that would only reveal their true intentions in the very end that are missing in this modern adaption.
Nevertheless, apart of the story line and the lengths, this movie is a definite must see and lovely done homage to the era of Italo Westerns. Any fan of Tarantino should be satisfied with this flick even if it's not his best and even if there were a couple of better movies than this one in 2012.