Saturday Movies: Django Unchained (2012)

The only two movies I have seen so far from Quentin Tarantino, and it has made me very excited about seeing future movies from him as well. Django Unchained though follows much in the footsteps of Inglorious Basterds though as far as seeking revenge and featuring lots of gore. There is something not only visually stunning about his movies though, but he also features really likable characters. There are shots of the settings in the movie that are breathtaking.

Dr. King Schultz is looking for Django and when he finds him he enlist his help to find three brothers that he has a bounty on. This pulls Django into the bounty hunter business. Django though wants to find his wife, and Schutlz gets to know Django he wants to help him. The search for Django's wife, Broomhilda, leads them to the plantation of Calvin Candie. He own one of the biggest plantations in Mississippi, and runs it ruthlessly. After arriving there though they still have to find the location of her on a huge plantation and think of a way to get her out.


Between the great acting and the very good directing you have a movie that is one of the strongest ones of 2012. Jaime Foxx stars as Django, and while he is good in the part and does really embrace having passion for his part there are a lot of strong performances in the movie to compete with. He's believable though and does the viewer to like him instantly at the beginning. Christoph Waltz won an award for his role as Dr. King Schultz and it was well deserved. He is the highlight of the whole movie and balances so many different waves at once of being comedic, violent, and compassionate at the same time. His character is very real and has the depth to back it up.

What may come as a surprise performance is Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie, mostly because you don't ever see DiCaprio just being a bad guy. He does it very well in balancing moments where you really dislike him, and others how you can his charm. There is also Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen who has earned a high spot on the plantation as a slave who basically sits at Calvin's side to report on people and manage his affairs. Jackson 's character is even more unlikable than Calvin himself.

There are some parts that feel uneven in the movie though especially near the end because either it has ran too long or it is too rushed. Something about it just felt very tacked on to the rest of the story, which felt like it had developed itself until the point where we get to the Australian part. Then after that the movie is a blur as Django makes another attempt to rescue his wife.

Django Unchained does have a long run time, but it is completely worth sitting through every bit of it to see. The movie is visually well done as past works have been, and the acting is spot on as far portraying their characters to make them feel real. There are also some nice twist through in and a few spots where it gets really funny.

Rating 9 of 10.