After reclaiming his position as one of Hollywood's most exciting filmmakers with Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino returns with another tale of revisionist history - this time shifting his aim from the horrors of Nazi Germany to the ugly history of America's slave trade in the deep South. It's another tale of revenge this time told through the lens of a blaxpoitation spaghetti western. Or, in Tarantino's words, a "Southern". And Django makes for the perfect hero to fight against some of America's most atrocious injustices.
Jamie Foxx does a fine job portraying the title character but with such massive performances from his costars, it's easy to get caught up fantasizing about what the film would have looked like had Will Smith chosen to star in Django instead of the father-son M. Night Shyamalan film After Earth. Considering his career trajectory since, I'm sure Will Smith probably thinks back on this as well. But again Foxx is fine. It's Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio that really jump off the screen at you. Waltz seems to be playing the bizzaro Hans Landa; a bounty hunter rather than a jew hunter, but still as cunning a negotiator as ever. And while Waltz took home another Oscar for his performance in Django, I'll always remember Django for DiCaprio's role as the flamboyant Calvin Candie. DiCaprio has never really gotten the opportunity to go full heel and he does so magnificently with his sadistic portrayal of the plantation owner in possession of Django's lost love.
The entire cast, top to bottom, is pretty staggering. Kerry Washington delivers a phenomenal performance as Django's wife, Samuel L. Jackson plays a great Uncle Tom figure as Calvin Candie's right hand man, and then you have some fantastic bit roles from Bruce Dern as a slave trader, Don Johnson as Big Daddy, Jonah Hill as a redneck Klan member and the original Django himself (Franco Nero) making a brief cameo. The entire film just feels so full. Full of character, full of story, full of passion. Quentin seems to be reinvigorated.
After taming things down a bit for Basterds, Tarantino returns with another blazing soundtrack composed of everything from Ennio Morricone bits to Jim Croce to Rick Ross. The familiar stylized genre aesthetic also seems to be slowly creeping back in as well. Not to the vibrant extent of Kill Bill, but definitely not as muted as Basterds either. Django seems to find a happy medium. The film looks absolutely stunning. Tarantino has captured the period magnificently and puts together one captivating sequence after another. The training montage in the snow covered Wyoming mountains, the firey Klu Klux Klan raid, the Candyland plantation dinner and shootout - Django takes such a magnificent journey that it's almost too much to take in during one sitting.
Which I suppose is why it makes sense that Tarantino has toyed with the idea of adding in some additional unused footage to fluff the story out into a four part miniseries, like he did recently with The Hateful Eight. But upon first viewing, I really wanted the film to end with Django's shootout at Candyland right after Dr.Schultz and Calvin Candie are shot. It seemed like the perfect punctuation to the building tension of the dinner scene and a great way to resolve all the loose ends in one emphatic finale. But instead, we get an additional 30 minutes or so of Django being captured and re-enslaved, bargaining with Tarantino's wretched Australian accent, and then the inevitable trip back to Candyland where he finishes the survivors off and rides off with Broomhilda like we all knew that he eventually would anyways. It's seemingly unnecessary running length is really my only gripe with the film but the more time that's passed, the more I appreciate why Tarantino chose to go this route.
Instead of shooting his way to Broomhilda, it's the scheming of Dr. Schultz that Django picked up on which ultimately helps him leave Candyland with his wife. It's an odd place to choose a "violence doesn't solve everything" stance but I suppose I get it. It just seems QT probably could have accomplish the same thing without bloating the film into a near 3 hour outing since we essentially arrive at the same outcome anyways. Perhaps this is where Tarantino misses his career editing partner Sally Menke, as this was his first feature since her passing. But as a whole, Django feels like Tarantino's most complete outing since Pulp Fiction. It has the over the top violence and genre homages we've come to expect while still delivering an incredibly well written story of revenge and romance with impeccable direction.
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