Director: Quentin Tarantino
Story: Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio
Time: 165 minutes
Bottom-line: Lots of blood; little of everything else
Having seen Tarantino’s latest film Django Unchained, I find it hard to believe that this film was so well approved by many. For all those regular viewers of Tarantino films, this may be a masterpiece, but to me, it certainly wasn’t. Christoph Waltz is as perfect as he was in Tarantino’s previous film Basterds, but other than a few bright spots like this one, this film is nothing but a bloodbath.
Set in the Antebellum Era in Texas, this is the story of a slave, Django (Foxx), who, gains his freedom with the help of a German dentist cum bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Waltz), in exchange of information about some people called ‘the Brittle Brothers’, whom Schultz wants to kill for money. Django and Schultz become close, and Schultz also trains Django to become a bounty hunter. Django tells the doctor that he is looking for his wife, Broomhilda, who is also a slave. Schultz feels responsible for Django and offers to assist him in the search. They trace her location to the plantation owned by the charming but villainous Calvin Candie (DiCaprio). The doctor and Django manage to somehow work out a deal with Candie, but before the deal is finalized, Candie’s house slave Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson) finds something fishy and warns Candie about the doctor and Django. Does Django manage to get his wife back? Or has Stephen prevented it in the nick of time? If you must find out, watch the film.
Now there are plenty of Tarantino’s elements in the film: tons of violence, profanity, few catchy lines… and a fairly good story. I say fairly, because I feel that Tarantino does a good job in building up the suspense, but ends it poorly. The same thing happens in Inglorious Basterds as well. Until the last 40 minutes or so, the film is going decently, despite being slow. Then suddenly, there is a vicious fight and before you know it, half the guys are dead!
There is a lot of violence in the film, but this, in a way, makes it slow. In Inglorious Basterds, there were few scenes of intense violence, and along with them, the story was also developed. But here, in every scene or two there is lots of blood. Repeated gunfights and showing someone die every five minutes on an average slows down the pace. In the last twenty minutes, there is a very bloody fight that lasts for about 5-7 minutes on screen. The fight is so sick that I couldn’t watch it for more than two minutes. Tarantino could have very well just shown a few scenes and ended the fight, but no! He wants the audience to see a lot of blood and make it more ‘Tarantinoish’. This film has more violence than his previous -much more enjoyable- Oscar-nominated film, and hence, this much of violence makes it more sick than enjoyable.
Many needless scenes and dialogues slacken the pace. The dialogues, especially those in Candie’s house, are a waste of time. There are few scenes of how Broomhilda was tortured, and yes, again, a waste of time. Tarantino just wants to somehow bring violence on the screen. In his previous film, there are some 3 or 4 parallel tracks all shown simultaneously, heading towards a common ending. Here, there is only one track, and this makes it more boring. By the time two hours of the movie is finished, many viewers may already be looking at their watches to see when the film will get over.
Christoph Waltz’s acting a one bright spot in the film. He has acted excellently in this film. The costumes and settings are good. And like I said before, the story proceeds well for the first 100-110 minutes. Only the last one hour is a bore. DiCaprio has acted well, as has Foxx. DiCaprio's accent, his few catchy dialogues and a terrific portrayal of a villain make his performance a really entertaining one. If you want to see only the violence, then I think you would give it a five star rating. If you look into the other aspects, I don’t think you will rate it so high. No other positive factors worth mentioning.
So, Django Unchained is the latest video game action film by Tarantino. I mean seriously, seeing Django and Schultz shoot others like that make it look as if this is an ‘Old West’ version of GTA! If you are a die hard Tarantino fan, you will see it no matter what the reviews say. Else, stay away from it. You can see it for Waltz’s (as well the others’) acting, but once you have seen the first two hours of the film, turn your head away from the screen and do something else, just to be safe. Yet, the terrific acting by Waltz and DiCaprio are standouts.
My Rating: 2/5
Rotten tomatoes rating: 88%
Story: Quentin Tarantino Cast: Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio
Time: 165 minutes
Bottom-line: Lots of blood; little of everything else
Having seen Tarantino’s latest film Django Unchained, I find it hard to believe that this film was so well approved by many. For all those regular viewers of Tarantino films, this may be a masterpiece, but to me, it certainly wasn’t. Christoph Waltz is as perfect as he was in Tarantino’s previous film Basterds, but other than a few bright spots like this one, this film is nothing but a bloodbath.
 |
| Waltz and Foxx as Schultz and Django |
 |
| DiCaprio as Candie |
Now there are plenty of Tarantino’s elements in the film: tons of violence, profanity, few catchy lines… and a fairly good story. I say fairly, because I feel that Tarantino does a good job in building up the suspense, but ends it poorly. The same thing happens in Inglorious Basterds as well. Until the last 40 minutes or so, the film is going decently, despite being slow. Then suddenly, there is a vicious fight and before you know it, half the guys are dead!
There is a lot of violence in the film, but this, in a way, makes it slow. In Inglorious Basterds, there were few scenes of intense violence, and along with them, the story was also developed. But here, in every scene or two there is lots of blood. Repeated gunfights and showing someone die every five minutes on an average slows down the pace. In the last twenty minutes, there is a very bloody fight that lasts for about 5-7 minutes on screen. The fight is so sick that I couldn’t watch it for more than two minutes. Tarantino could have very well just shown a few scenes and ended the fight, but no! He wants the audience to see a lot of blood and make it more ‘Tarantinoish’. This film has more violence than his previous -much more enjoyable- Oscar-nominated film, and hence, this much of violence makes it more sick than enjoyable.
Many needless scenes and dialogues slacken the pace. The dialogues, especially those in Candie’s house, are a waste of time. There are few scenes of how Broomhilda was tortured, and yes, again, a waste of time. Tarantino just wants to somehow bring violence on the screen. In his previous film, there are some 3 or 4 parallel tracks all shown simultaneously, heading towards a common ending. Here, there is only one track, and this makes it more boring. By the time two hours of the movie is finished, many viewers may already be looking at their watches to see when the film will get over.
Christoph Waltz’s acting a one bright spot in the film. He has acted excellently in this film. The costumes and settings are good. And like I said before, the story proceeds well for the first 100-110 minutes. Only the last one hour is a bore. DiCaprio has acted well, as has Foxx. DiCaprio's accent, his few catchy dialogues and a terrific portrayal of a villain make his performance a really entertaining one. If you want to see only the violence, then I think you would give it a five star rating. If you look into the other aspects, I don’t think you will rate it so high. No other positive factors worth mentioning.
So, Django Unchained is the latest video game action film by Tarantino. I mean seriously, seeing Django and Schultz shoot others like that make it look as if this is an ‘Old West’ version of GTA! If you are a die hard Tarantino fan, you will see it no matter what the reviews say. Else, stay away from it. You can see it for Waltz’s (as well the others’) acting, but once you have seen the first two hours of the film, turn your head away from the screen and do something else, just to be safe. Yet, the terrific acting by Waltz and DiCaprio are standouts.
My Rating: 2/5
Rotten tomatoes rating: 88%
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