I'm only sorry I haven't watched this sooner.

Rating: 10/10 (28 November 2015)

I don't understand the reviewers who gave negative reviews, said this movie was "too slow", "boring" or the characters weren't well written. I feel the exact opposite. It takes a lot for me to love a movie, especially a violent one.
Sometimes you watch an almost 3 hour movie and feel it drags on way too long and scenes should have been cut, but the way this was written kept you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next the entire time. When things do happen, it's both unexpected and not so far fetched that you think "impossible!" Of course some of the script seems outlandish or exaggerated by today's standards, and it may be easy for some less aware individuals to think "that wouldn't happen", but in the era this was written, it all felt just right. Of course little bits and pieces gave it a modern edge, but for the most part it stuck to it's time period. There certainly were people exactly like DiCaprio's character in existence in the past and so it makes it that much more interesting and intense. Almost having a goal to "expose" how truly evil slavery and racism was.
I felt this movie made even the "unnecessary scenes" interesting and enjoyable. The witty dialogue pushed the plot along and also gave you more information about characters. The characters were believable in that they did sometimes have moments of weakness, moments of hesitation, and also moments of haste. That gives it an even better sense of reality in my opinion when characters "break character". Real people are not always acting in one fluid character trait. The flashbacks were actually useful to the plot, not just a ploy that seem unrelated. You were given real reasons to root for the "good guys" and truly hate the "bad guys" other than "here's the good guys and bad guys, now watch the violence". Through the build up, it fully captures just how deep and evil slavery and racism was and pretty much takes you back in time to witness the current view of slavery and equality crush the old view of slavery and racism.
I'll also add that I normally get sensitive when it comes to excessive or unnecessary violence in films and if the violence doesn't "make sense" as coming from the people we are supposed to believe as "good", it tends to frustrate me. I felt this movie overcame that "ends justify the means" pattern that many action movies seem to fall victim to. Knowing the way I feel about excessive and unnecessary violence in plot lines, I have never watched any of Quentin Tarantino's movies before knowing they are gory and violent, but decided to watch this one since it had such high accolades and went into it expecting to avert my eyes as needed or even turn it off. However, this felt different for me than an "ends justify the means" scenario and brilliantly placed the violence exactly where you wanted it to be and geared it to exactly who you felt "deserved" the violence.
I am only sorry I haven't watched this particular one sooner as it has now become a serious contender for my favorite movie of all time. I am planning to watch a few more of his movies now to see if I like them just as much.