Django Unchained - Vern's Reviews on the Films of Cinema Vern's Reviews on the Films of Cinema. A couple weeks ago the studio “lifted the embargo” as they say, and all the online critics unchained their DJANGO reviews even though non- critics wouldn’t see the thing until Christmas. I think that’s a silly ritual because I wasn’t gonna read that shit! This is the new Quentin Tarantino movie, you go in fresh. I already know I want to see any movie he makes, I don’t gotta read everything about it first. DTS-HD Master Audio Mono (48kHz, 24-bit) Italian. The Weinstein Company and Columbia Pictures have just revealed the first theatrical trailer for Django Unchained. The Force Awakens 3D. Django Unchained Review. Stephen’ who has an unshakable allegiance to his master despite the sincerely shocking. Django Unchained Review. Verdict; The Rundown; X Close; Tweet. Once Upon a Time in the South. Review; Movie Specs; User Reviews; Discussion (29) Movies review. Django Unchained is a 2012 American Western film. Django Unchained Review. Django – the “D” is silent – walks in line with other slaves. In case you’re different I’ve tried to mark the biggest spoilers in this review, but as usual I recommend seeing the movie first. DJANGO UNCHAINED is the most straight forward movie Tarantino has ever made. It follows one main character from first scene to last, doesn’t cut away to another story or even jump around in time other than some very traditional flashbacks. There are alot of long conversation scenes, but it’s generally pretty clear what they have to do with the main plot of the freed slave Django (Jamie Foxx, STEALTH) becoming a bounty hunter and trying to rescue his wife (Kerry Washington) from a plantation. And that’s not a misleading description, that’s really the movie, a racially charged western (or “Southern,” Tarantino likes to say) in the tradition of those CHARLEY movies I just reviewed. So in a way it feels uneventful for a Tarantino movie, the first time he made one that was pretty much what I expected from the commercials. On first viewing it seems low in my rankings of the QT filmography, but that doesn’t say much. Tarantino sure knows how to entertain, and I happen to love this genre of badass black cowboys out for frontier justice against practitioners of the slave trade. For his first straight up genre picture that’s a good genre to pick. I love this movie. For a blaxploitation movie it’s weird how much this centers around white man Christoph Waltz as German bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (the meaning of the Dr. King reference is never clear). As an immigrant he’s mystified by America’s practice of slavery. He despises it and gets a kick out of punishing slavers even as he’s sure to follow the letter of the law in paying for Django and “acquiring a bill of sale” since he thinks Django can help him identify three outlaws with a large bounty on their head. Schultz likes to talk and show off his smarts as much as his INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS character Hans Landa, but now we can feel better about being charmed by him because he’s not a Nazi, he’s a quasi- abolitionist. He’s the guy who rescues Django, mentors him, comes up with the plans, doesn’t even always tell him what they’re up to. Obviously as a talker he’s the character Tarantino can relate to, so he starts falling in love with him. And it’s fine because he’s such a great character, but at a certain point I started thinking you know what, a movie about this shouldn’t focus on the white guy. Luckily it eventually becomes only about the unchained gentleman and he gets to fulfill his mission and also kill a whole lot of bad people and destroy highly symbolic structures. And I should’ve known he could do it by the way he handled his first mission. He’s just supposed to identify these guys but he handles them by himself, quickly achieving a goal you expect to take up more movie time. It’s really an origin story, and therefore the first Tarantino movie that ever made me want a sequel. I mean, if he decided to do that sequel to KILL BILL where Vernita Green’s daughter tries to get revenge on Beatrix of course I would be excited, but otherwise you wouldn’t want to see any part 2s of his work. But DJANGO immediately calls for further adventures. By the end he has achieved full badass icon status. There could definitely be a BLADE II of the DJANGO series. When Foxx was cast I knew he could do well, but he seemed like a less exciting choice than some of the other people who were considered. It would’ve been an unusual role for Will Smith if he’d taken it, and I was excited that Tarantino had considered Chris Tucker. But Foxx turns out to be perfect. He begins the movie as a dehumanized slave trained not to speak up or make eye contact with a white man, but when he sees his window he quickly becomes a black superman. Foxx carries himself in a badass manner worthy of Wesley Snipes or Michael Jai White, a full understanding of expression and posture that can’t be faked. One of my favorite things in the movie is when Django is newly freed and told to pick out a costume to wear to portray Dr. He’s excited that he gets to choose anything he wants and this is what he goes with: It gets a huge laugh I think mainly because it looks silly, but it’s also an act of defiance. Foxx’s whole manner says “I will knock your head off with one punch” and the outfit says “Fuck you, I like wearing this” as well as “What, you’ve never seen a black man wearing an outfit the kid from SONG OF THE SOUTH would wear?”It’s so ostentatious and gaudy, I think it’s like the Civil War era equivalent of strutting around in a SUPERFLY outfit. Picking out clothes is new to him (the doctor has to recommend against one of the hats he tries on) but he immediately finds a way to use fashion to express himself. I wasn’t really expecting an action movie here, and like most westerns the emphasis is more on people putting their hands on their guns than on actually shooting them. But there are some full- on shootouts and this is post- KILL BILL Tarantino so he turns them into comically excessive bloodbaths with industrial strength squibs (analog!), shots that send people flying through the air and innovative ways to deliver pain to characters who really, really deserve it. Foxx and Waltz are the heart of the movie, but there are two marquee name villains worth praising. After flirting with playing Patrick Bateman and Hans Landa, Leonardo Di. Caprio gets to combine a bit of both into Calvin Candie, a horrible scumbag slave owner who thinks he’s the height of sophistication. Jackson does a different kind of playing- against- type as Candie’s disturbingly loyal slave Stephen. Stephen (who at times reminds me of Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks) hates Django for all the wrong reasons. Note that when they meet Django is pretending to be a slaver, but that’s not what Stephen has a problem with. He has a problem with him being free and in some ways treated equal. Over the years it seems like Stephen has figured out a way to be The Man within the system of slavery, kissing Candie’s ass and laughing at his jokes in the dining room but then when he goes into the back rooms he’s in charge. There’s a great shot that follows him from yelling at teasing the other slaves in the kitchen to shucking and jiving for the white men in the living room. He’s worked his whole life to get here and now here’s Django, they let him ride in on a horse and sit at the table with the whites. Like MANDINGO, the plot delves a little bit into brutal organized fights between slaves. It’s like – to borrow John Mc. Cain’s description of the UFC – human cockfighting. I noticed a somebody- somebody Perry credited as a stuntman. I looked it up and sure enough IMDb says J. J. Perry (UNDISPUTED 2, HAYWIRE) was the fight choreographer. This is different from alot of his other work though because it’s all about looking brutal and horrible, not showy. Tarantino stages it very cleverly so that we see one black body pinning down another, fists hammering down, but we see this over the shoulders of these rich white men sitting casually on couches, their heads often blocking the middle of the action. Unlike, say, the horrendous coverage of the tournament fights in WARRIOR, this is thematically smart. Tarantino is not gonna allow you to enjoy this as a movie fight. It’s a horror scene, made more illicit and wrong by the fact that it’s taking place just on a floor in somebody’s home, not some sort of cage or ring. Reminded me of some scenes in FIGHTING, but the effect is more like COCKFIGHTER when they’re having their competition in a hotel room. It’s so casual it’s creepy. Despite all the violence and brutality in the movie I think Tarantino’s kind of a softie, he loves his good guys and he pulls back before tormenting them as much as he could if he really wanted to upset us. And I’m kind of a softie too so I appreciated the gesture. Thanks for not keeping her pinned down to the table for too long, I thought. I’m happy to have that over with. In a vintage spaghetti western Broomhilda surely would have to die, just as O. G. Django’s wife did, and as Charley’s girl did. But I knew Tarantino would want to give them a happy ending, and I like that. It’s sweet. It does feel a little weird to have the central female character be such a straight up damsel in distress. Like Beatrix Kiddo “That woman deserves her revenge, ” but she does nothing for herself, just gets tormented and rescued. Considering the heroines of JACKIE BROWN, KILL BILL, DEATH PROOF and INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS this has gotta be an intentional choice and not just a sexist oversight. Maybe it’s to fit the western archetypes, or the Siegfried legend they talk about, maybe to make Django truly exceptional by being the only defiant slave we see, the inspiration for all others. I wish she got to do more but at the end she looks at Django so lovingly that I couldn’t help believe it and be moved by her. BIGGER SPOILERS THIS PARAGRAPH. I really like that Dr. Schultz gets a death that’s heroic, but not in the usual way. He could very easily get out of there alive, and probly with Broomhilda as planned. But he takes a stand on principle. He has very successfully protected himself by staying within the law, only killing people who are wanted dead or alive, carrying the warrants, knowing who to show them to, trying to rescue Broomhilda through a legal slavery transaction instead of just busting her out, so that nobody can come after her. But now he’s faced with the idea of shaking hands with this asshole, and he can’t do it.
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