Review: Django Unchained

Django Unchained is a really good film. It’s probably the best Tarantino film in years, and is, in many ways, absolutely fantastic. There are a few reasons for this.

Firstly, the dialogue is amazing. This is pretty much a given in a Tarantino film - intelligent, tight, funny dialogue has always featured heavily in his scripts – and it’s nice to see it here as well. QT has always favoured long, drawn out, scenes with the aforementioned talky bits as the centrepiece, and Django is, marvellously, packed with them.

It’s not just well written, the film is also bloody gorgeous. The sets are unbelievably good looking, particularly the plantation houses and grounds, you really get a sense of the grandeur and decadence of the slavers. The contrast between the loveliness of the setting and the nastiness of the slaving is also really unnerving, and effective.

The other big aspect of the film’s look is the violence. Tarantino is known for his B-Movie inspired ultra-violence, and this film features it in bucket loads. But, unlike some of his other movies, it feels entirely appropriate here. The slave trade was really violent, and people did do deeply unpleasant things to other people, the film just reflects that, in a stylised way.

Finally, the acting is really good. Christopher Waltz gives, what I think, is a standout performance, but all the actors are fantastic. In fact, the only bit of dodgy comes from the director’s obligatory cameo. That man cannot do a convincing Australian accent, just saying…

So yeah, this is a pretty freaking awesome film .Unlike some of his other films, it feels together (Kill Bill in particular can be accused of being a bit bloated), looks good, is well written, and is amazingly acted. You should go and watch it, then watch it again for that matter, it’s that good.

Watch if you liked: Pulp Fiction

If you liked this watch: The Dirty Dozen