Hmmm

Rating: Null/10 (4 January 2013)

Inglourious Basterds is in my Top 20 of all-time, and while I have always liked Tarantino (the only one I haven't seen is Reservoir Dogs) nothing apart from Basterds had come close to amazing me as much. Django Unchained looked like it could start a streak that started with his 2009 film. It certainly looked as great, with a great cast. Turns out that it's just sort of disappointing.
Tarantino films always have his trademark style, always homages to genres. This is an entertaining film no doubt, but it just lacks the extra spark that made Basterds work so much. This is in part due to some weak pacing. The film lags at certain points, most notably the last act. It all should work more than it does, but it somehow doesn't. There's still enough here to make it work though, and that's thanks to some of the performers. Jackson is fun here, but there's nothing incredibly special about his performance. Dicaprio is also fun but to a higher extent. He makes the role work wonders, and although you always see Dicaprio acting, it's still enough to remind me of his great work from years ago. Christoph Waltz is the clear stand-out though. I've only seen him in Basterds and last year's Carnage and I had already become a fanboy of his. He nails this role to absolute perfection. He's just able to perfectly deliver lines in the way Tarantino absolutely intends, squeezing all of its juicy potential and making yet again another truly great character. If there's one aspect of the film that deserves tons of nominations and awards, it's Waltz. It's also somewhat of a borderline category performance. He certainly has the screen-time of a lead, but the last half of the film certainly tells us that it's really the film of Django... and there's the problem. Foxx has absolutely no charisma, no glowing screen presence. The character could have worked with someone better, but with Foxx it's such a middling character.
Disappointment? Definitely, but this is still very much worth seeking out. As a whole it's just nowhere near as tight and controlled of a film as Basterds was, or as well-directed. But two of its actors are working at a higher command here, one of whom gives one of the best performances of the year.