Django Unchained Review

Django Unchained Review

 

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I've always been a fan of Tarantino, the way he manages to create that vintage exploitation cinema feel through music and direction never fails to excite me. This film is no exception, it manages to take the tricky and controversial subject of black slavery and make turn it into a 70's style blaxploitation film.

 

This is only one of the two recent films which have both tried to tackle the black slavery subject, the other being the Critically acclaimed Lincoln. While Lincoln may provide a historic understanding of the politics surrounding slavery, I feel that Django actually succeeds much better in creating an understanding of the time period. While it may do this through the use of comedy and ultra-violence, its underlying themes still provoke thoughts about slavery, and in the end provided me with a better understanding of the period than Lincoln (Despite Daniel Day Lewis' excellent performance). The basic narrative of the film is a standard rescue the princess affair, but with some subtle Tarantino twists that help give the director his auteur status. The use of gore in Tarantino films is well known, from the more gritty Pulp Fiction to the amusing Kill Bill, this film follows suit with some at times hilarious effects. While some critics argue that the effects can detract from the film and make it seem comedic, these critics clearly are not familiar with Tarantino's work, the mix of comedy and violence are what gives him his cult status, and should not be criticised.

 

The performances in the film are all brilliant, Jamie Foxx plays a subdued but potentially iconic performance as Django, and Leonardo Di Caprio's role as the crazy Calvin Candie is manically brilliant. The camera work uses beautiful scenic shots and ultra quick close ups, which give the film the same vintage feel that worked for Kill Bill and for Robert Rodriguez's Machete and Planet Terror. The soundtrack is again excellent and works really well with the film with a mix of hip hop in the form of Rick Ross, traditional deep south music and Django's own theme tune, which sounds similar to the music from Kill Bill.

 

All of the elements come together to make a fun film, which unlike Lincoln doesn't take itself too seriously. If you're looking for a somewhat controversial comedy to watch (that doesn't go as far as Movie 43) as well as some great action set pieces and fantastically written dialogue then look no further than Django Unchained.

9/10