by Sumner Strickland | staff writer
Tarantino has once again has made the movie going experience enjoyable and, believe it or not hilarious, in Django Unchained.
The film begins with a scene of Django, a flawless Jamie Foxx, walking across an arid desert chained and shackled like slaves would be. Then, while on their death march, they are found by a German “dentist,” Dr. King Schultz, played by a superb Christoph Waltz, who needs Django’s help to find the Brittle brothers. The brothers are three murderous slave owners who all have a bounty on their head, and in return, he will help Django rescue his wife from the wicked plantation owner Calvin Candie, played by the extremely impressive Leonardo DiCaprio.
What better way to revive the Spaghetti Western genre then make an American version in the ‘Antebellum South’ two years before the Civil War. The setting went to truly make this film a stroke of genius. The writing is not surprisingly some of the best dialogue in film history, and the story is so engrossing that you forget about all the racial slurs and historical inaccuracies. For those who believed Tarantino films were violent before, you haven’t seen anything yet. This is easily Tarantino’s most violent film to date, but it’s never a big enough problem to where it takes away from the story.
Now on to the acting, which is nothing but incredible. Jamie Foxx proves his chops as one of the first people ever to take on the role of a black slave that becomes a hero. Meanwhile, you have Christoph Waltz performing in top form as an abolitionist bounty hunter who used to be a German dentist.
Mr. Dicaprio being the dirtiest, nastiest villain you could possibly imagine and then some, lived up to his role with flying colors. The amount of bravery and endurance it took to play a role like Calvin Candie is remarkable and, if anything, he deserves an Oscar win. Of course the two honorable mention side-villains are played by a hilarious Don Johnson who makes his triumphant comeback to the screen, and the unforgettable Samuel L. Jackson as a despicable house slave.
Criticism is hard to come by, not because I’m ignoring it, because there’s nothing that really bothered me about the film. Maybe it is a little too long, but you expect that when you go see a Tarantino film and you’re entertained for two hours and forty five minutes seamlessly.
The best thing about it is, it’s not an Oscar film. Therefore, it’s not pushing for best picture or anything like that, and yet it still becomes one of the nominees. Django is truly fun to watch, making it one of the best of 2012.
