Quentin Tarantino is without a doubt my favourite director, i’m not saying he’s the best but for myself personally his films have everything I hope to see in a film. Tarantino is known for his somewhat dark story lines which contrast with the humorous dialogue and again he returns with another film Django Unchained which is exactly that. Django Unchained defiantly fulfilled what I wanted to the film to be. It has all the elements of a Tarantino Film, the humorous dialogue, the gore, the action. But it didn’t quite have the same artistic feel as Kill Bill Vol.1 or Pulp Fiction.
The film revolves around a former slave Django performed by Jamie Foxx who is freed by a bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz who is performed excellently by Christoph Waltz who captures every essence of what a Tarantino character should be. Whilst Dr. Shultz trains Django as his partner as a bounty hunter, Django’s main goal is to save his wife and love of his life from a plantation owned by Mr Calvin Candie who is played by Leonardo DiCaprio with an outstanding performance. After watching Django at the cinema I read an article in which that during one scene of the film where Leonardo DiCaprio slams his hand against a piece of glass on a table repeatedly, he did intact do just that and failed to break character during the shooting of the scene and required stitches afterwards. With all respect to DiCaprio his performance in Django Unchained was a personal favourite amongst many of his other performances being so great. On the other hand Jamie Foxx’s performance is simply brilliant as Django once the film gets going, but theres a definite uncertainly and uncomfortably that creeps through, understandable as the role must have been somewhat difficult to play but it defiantly gave me a certain feeling of uncomfortably to watch at times myself.
Whilst the film won ‘Best Original Screenplay’ at the BAFTA’s it isn’t honestly that original; a man setting out to save his wife having to endure events that interfere along the way. Original? Not entirely, but the way Tarantino shows it to us; entirely gripping for the extensive 180 minute run time. The film has a serious theme throughout of slavery and at times their are brutal and violent gory moments that we come to expect of Tarantino movies, if you’re not a Tarantino fan, you simply won’t enjoy it. He takes it that little step further with its brutal honesty of what slavery was and develops it into something respectable but still entertaining.