Django Unchained

Purchased by Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) with the intent to be set free Django (Jaime Foxx) is a slave with a serious grudge. Schultz needs help tracking down the Brittle Brothers, whom Django can identify and no one else seems to be able to do that. Schultz is a bounty hunter and a very good one at that. He promises to set Django free once he has captured (killed) the Brittle Brothers. Schultz detests slavery, but uses it to his advantage. He gives Django the last name Freeman and together they ride. Django turns out to be a natural in the white man killing business and the two team up for the cold winter with the promise that Schultz would help Django find his lost wife, Brumhilda (Kerry Washington). When the winter clears, the two discover Brumhilda was sold to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Candie is a devious, awful man and the second half of the movie is a cat and mouse game between Django and Schultz and Candie.

Told with Tarantino's typical flair, Django moves quickly, dares us to watch extremely uncomfortable scenes and pops off the screen with wit. Django Unchained is a dazzling film pure and simple. Every single moment is rich. From the opening bristling monologue from Waltz, to the unbelievable shoot out to the explosive climax, I was never bored. In the interest of full disclosure, I love Tarantino. I love the way he makes movies as if they were movies. He tells interesting stories, but he never pretends it is not a movie and I love that about him. He is always the star of his movies, but one thing I found unique in Django Unchained is how much he relents to the talent, and the talent is spectacular.

Foxx is surrounded by all of these great over the top masterful performances, but the man holds it down in a big way. His Django transforms a few times through the movie and each one is a smooth transition due to Foxx's general cool attitude. He looks great in these comically awesome costumes and never feels out of place in the western atmosphere. The other actors are getting all of the credit, and rightfully so, but Foxx really grounds the movie. His facial expressions are worthy of the close ups the get. I felt my heart breaking as he was struggling to keep his cool in order to get his wife back. Washington, as Brumhilda, does not have too much to do, but she makes it a memorable cameo like role. Waltz, clearly in his element with the Tarantino dialog and rhythm, shines brightly, as expected. His Schultz is the smartest man in the room, and he has no problems showing it off. Waltz gives Schultz gravitas when needed, but he also keeps it light when needed and no one, as we saw in Inglorious Basterds, can manipulate a prop quite like Waltz. He commands your attention every single second.

The two most surprising performances though go to DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson. DiCaprio is clearly playing against type and that kind of performance can be fun and interesting for a while and it is. DiCaprio's introduction is hilarious and weird and quirky, but he quickly turns into a scary sociopath. Clothed in ridiculous velvet and an unusual haircut, DiCaprio starts off like a flamboyant Hugh Hefner characters, but Tarantino quickly reveals a fiendish devil. Dicaprio's Calvin Candie is a very wealthy slave owner, but his favorite trade is Mandingo boxing. In one of the 3 hardest scenes to watch, Candie screams over his slave to beat another man to death. It is a brilliantly scary moment and it gives us everything we need to know about Candie. DiCaprio is typically the good guy after the truth. Here, he takes the idea of a villain and runs with it. He scared me. I did not think DiCaprio could scare me, but he flat out owns the confrontation scene. He gives a brutal, yet somehow charming performance and it soars over the second half of the film. For his part Samuel L. Jackson gives an incredibly daring performance as Stephen, Calvin's favorite house slave. Stephen is the ultimate Uncle Tom and Jackson throws himself completely into the role. His limp, his entire attitude screams self hating black man. I was quite shocked to see how unabashedly he threw himself into it.

The action sequences are brutal, yet over the top enough that they are okay to watch, but there are a few scenes that was incredibly tough to watch. Tarantino is not out to make slavery look cool. He does make the movie look cool, and the action look cool and all of the characters look and sound cool, but slavery is treated with brutality in every way. The costumes and sets all look stunning, especially Calvin's mansion. Wow, what a gorgeous mansion. The score is perfect for the film and Tarantino's decision to include contemporary music in a period piece was jarring at first, but it fit. Tarantino never plays by the rules and because of it, his movies have a unique richness. I know he plays on things that already exist and takes the idea of an homage to a whole other level, but he always makes his movies his own. If we were watching footage from the slavery period, we would not hear Tupac, but Tarantino does not want us to think we are actually watching something from the period of U.S history where we had slaves.

I come away from every Tarantino movie knowing I am going to remember the experience for a long time. They are events. The dialog in this movie is as close to perfect as can possibly be. Every single shot looks like it took hours to get it just right, yet seems so seamless at the same time. There is also this great sense of humor to it. If you are not laughing during the KKK scene, you are probably dead. That is how Tarantino operates. The same movie can have this gut bustingly hilarious scene, and then have a scene so brutal you are not sure you can watch it without covering your eyes. And somehow it all works. Kudos to Fred Raskin for his editing. It was a big point of concern after Tarantino's usual editor, Sally Menke, passed away, that Tarantino's would lose something, but this one is not missing anything. The cinematography is gorgeous, but that is no surprise from Robert Richardson.

Django Unchained will sit towards the top of the year's best for me. For Tarantino, it sit squarely in the middle with some of his other great films. Who knows what time will do to it and I know I will own it and watch it once a year during my girlfriend and mine's TarantinoFest.

Final Grade: A