Review: Django Unchained

Most people would agree that Quentin Tarantino is a creative individual.  Whether he is a good writer is a topic more up for debate.  To me, Django Unchained illustrates the dichotomy between that creativity and literary arts as the film is loaded with dynamic visuals and cinematic flair, but is often anchored by rudimentary logic and clunky dialogue.  The result is an entertaining movie that lacks the foundation upon which to build a truly strong cinematic narrative.

The film details the plight of a slave who joins up with bounty hunter Dr. Schultz to track down and kill criminals on behalf of the U.S. District Courts.  After a very successful winter, he earns his freedom and with the help of Schultz seeks to buy back his wife, who is owned by nefarious plantation owner, Calvin Candie.  Needless to say, things go awry and conflict ensues.  After watching that conflict arise and conclude, I walked out of the cinema thinking that I liked the movie but probably would not watch it again.  In the spirit of delivering the veggies before the dessert I will start with why I wouldn’t watch it again.  To me the reasons are three fold:

1. The writing. Tarantino’s creativity really pops in those climactic moments when the pieces on the proverbial board come to a head.  There’s always a hip fan boy flair to these climactic scenes and an eye-popping attention to detail.  The problem though is with the rest of the film.  Dialogue, exposition, and the other nuts and bolts of story telling are the connective tissue that tie a film together and unfortunately at times Tarantino skimps out in those areas.  That quality is precisely what keeps this film from being something more than just an entertaining jaunt. 

2. The second reason I would not see this movie again is Jamie Foxx.  With all due respect to his apologists, the man is not much of an actor.  He is a great impersonator – as many comedians are, but when asked to give an original performance, he tends to underwhelm.  Without a doubt, he is the weak link in the cast, and that’s incredibly problematic since he is the protagonist. 

3. The third reason is the length of the movie.  There is this trend amongst “cinematic auteurs” to put as much as possible into a film with little or no regard to flow and pacing.  This almost always detracts from the film experience – particularly when it comes to the action genre, and detracts from the final climactic scene.  Less can be more, especially when it comes to editing matters.

As for reasons to watch this movie, by my count there are three:

1. Christoph Waltz as Dr. King Schultz.  The key to films like Django Unchained is that there has to be heart at the center of the plot driving all the action.  Otherwise, it’s just purposeless violence and that can only hold an audience captive for so long.  Jamie Foxx’s Django is meant to serve in this capacity, but fortunately Waltz is able to deliver where Foxx falters.  His masterful performance becomes that emotional center – the heart, the sympathy, the love, and the loyalty, that engages the viewer and keeps them invested in the outcome.

2.  Leonardo DiCaprio as Calvin Candie.  This role would have been a challenge for even the most accomplished character actor to portray.  Candie is vile, flamboyant, and nuanced.  With the dialogue that Tarantino saddles upon this character, I could envision dozens of scenarios where this performance could have gone horribly awry, but to his credit, DiCaprio is able to not only prevent Candie from morphing into a caricature of epic of proportions but also to deliver a complex performance loaded with conviction. 

3. Samuel L. Jackson as Stephen.  There was point somewhere in Jackson’s career where he decided to do the Nic Cage money grab and accept every role thrown at him.  So much so that he could easily have usurped Kevin Bacon in the 6 Degrees of Bacon game.  Worse still is that he resigned himself to simply rehashing slightly altered versions of himself as Shaft in each of these movies.  In the same way that it finally felt like Bruce Willis was really trying again in Looper, that’s how I felt about Jackson in this film.  His performance was pointed, funny, duplicitous, and a bunch of other adjectives that people stopped using in regards to Jackson’s acting.

So when you consider the good and the bad, it becomes apparent that Django Unchained is an entertaining but flawed film.  It’s a fine line between quirky brilliance and utter camp and Tarantino typically hops over the line numerous times in his film.  Django Unchained is no exception to this rule.  But then you don’t go to see a Tarantino movie and expect high art, sweeping story arcs, and deep character development.  Those films come from the Steven Spielbergs of the world.  Django Unchained is for those on the other end of the spectrum who watch for the spectacle and are captivated by the visual.  If you find that you fall into the latter, then you will definitely want to see his movie on the big screen.  It will not disappoint.  If it is the journey more so than the destination that makes a movie for you, then I would see it as a rental.  You may not love this movie, but you will be entertained.

Standout Performance: Christoph Waltz.  A very strong character performance in movie otherwise driven by action.