Love him or loathe him, Quentin Tarantino knows how to make movies that create a buzz. His latest offering “Django Unchained” is a wildly exciting, gory, hilarious, tension-filled movie which is set in the South two years before the Civil War, and stars Jamie Foxx as Django, a slave who joins forces with a bounty hunter to find his wife.
Jamie Foxx as Django and Christoph Waltz as Schultz in DJANGO UNCHAINED. Photo Credit: Andrew Cooper, SMPSP / The Weinstein Company
As the movie begins, we meet Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz), a German dentist turned bounty hunter who is on a hunt for a slave named Django (Foxx). Schultz is intent on collecting the bounty on the murderous Brittle brothers who have become brutal plantation overseers and only Django can identify these three men. Granted his freedom, Django accepts Schultz’s offer for a partnership, and becomes an apprentice bounty hunter, helping him track down wanted men. It’s not long before the duo set their sights on the ultimate target, Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), one of the largest plantation owners in Mississippi who purchased Django’s wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) months earlier. Under false pretenses, Django and Schultz visit the plantation but arouse the suspicion of Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), Candie’s trusted house slave who tries to stop their plans to escape with Broomhilda.
Jamie Foxx as Django and Christoph Waltz as Schultz
Clearly one of the best movies of 2012, “Django Unchained” has all the vigor, and excitement of the director’s previous offerings. His trademark of amplified violence and vulgar dialogue are in full force in this ‘men-on-a-mission’ western which is set in 1858. The name “Django” will be familiar to fans of Spaghetti Westerns as the hero’s name is borrowed from Sergio Corbucci’s 1966 cult classic starring Franco Nero who also makes a cameo appearance.
With a slate of impressive performances especially by Jackson, Washington and DiCaprio who plays a charismatic monster, there’s also a great juxtaposed use of sound and rap music. Part of the exhilaration of “Unchained” is the mesh of unexpected humor despite a heinous plot which deals with racism. Audiences will cheer as the bad guys get their recompense, but will also laugh at the bumbling Klansmen who seem to have trouble seeing through their hoods.
Jamie Foxx as Django and Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candle in DJANGO UNCHAINED. Photo Credit: Andrew Cooper, SMPSP / The Weinstein Company
“Django Unchained” has a running time of 165 minutes and although a few minutes could be shaved off here and there, it isn’t tiresome to sit through. With his flair for dialogue and a colorful cast of rogues and rascals, Tarantino expertly builds tension.
Director Quentin Tarantino on the set of DJANGO UNCHAINED. Photo Credit: Andrew Cooper, SMPSP / The Weinstein Company
Filmed at several locations including the famous Melody Ranch in Santa Clarita, the western town used in the television series “High Noon” and “Gunsmoke,” “Django Unchained” is brash and bloody, and is one of the best films of 2012.
Samantha Ofole-Prince is a journalist and movie critic who covers industry-specific news that includes television and film. She serves as the Entertainment Editor for Trendy Africa.
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