Review of "Django Unchained"

When I found out about Django Unchained, I was really excited. A film chronicling the life of a freed slave searching for his lost wife sounded romantic and filled with juicy revenge. Plus, I love Quentin Tarantino for his beautiful blood-splattered death scenes, his long, wispy scenes of witty dialogue and his detailed development of strong, multi-dimensional characters. It all sounds great, but the actual movie is a little underwhelming.

Django Unchained
Starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio
Directed by Quentin Tarantino
My Opinion: Pretty good.

Django does not warrant almost three hours of my time. It's a fine story, inspiring I suppose with lots of trademark killings, however the film in its entirety lacks substance. He captured the tone of a spaghetti Western quite well, not that I hone any knowledge in that area, however, the story remains a little too one dimensional. Perhaps Tarantino thought that the savory revenge on the ugliest atrocity in American history was a subject pungent enough for epic length. I disagree. I found myself becoming a little to anxious for Django to find his wife and ride off into the sunset happily. The clever dialogue I become so accustomed to in a Tarantino film seemed a little stale in Django, moving the plot a lot with an occasional punchy joke, but providing little more.

In addition to the storyline, the characters rang at a slightly flat note. Outside of his essential role in the plot's movement, Dr. King Schultz, a German bounty hunter played by Christoph Waltz, seems a bit overly moralistic, but the acting rounds him out enough. The white Americans in the movie, on the other hand, are portrayed like immoral beasts. That would have been fun for a two-hour movie, but when it's stretches on, you feel beaten with guilt.

The performances are very good: Leonardo DiCaprio is a little cartoonish, but thoroughly exciting to watch, and Jamie Foxx portrays a sensitive and damaged creature with hot anger boiling in his veins. Also impressive is Samuel L. Jackson as a spiteful but complex character riddled with Stockholm syndrome. Indeed, the acting may carry the film more than the script.

It's not that I didn't enjoy Django Unchained, I found it pretty entertaining. A scene regarding hoods in a raid felt memorably ticklish as well as many other comically relieving moments. However, it's not at the level that I have come to expect from Tarantino. It didn't leave me completely bored, but there was just not enough for three hours. Not bad though, not bad at all.