Django Unchained Review

Django Unchained is a classic Tarantino film. He pushes the limits of Hollywood like no other director can.

Tarantino brings his own standards back to where they should be and beyond with this tale.

The film is set two years before the American Civil War and in true Tarantino style is very dark and hits very close to home. At the same time the film is coated in light humour.

Django Freeman (Jamie Foxx) is a slave in 1858 who encounters a German ex-dentist, turned bounty hunter called Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz).

Schultz seeks the assistance of Django for a bounty and so they pair up. They continue to work together once the bounty is complete and soon realize that they have more in common than they originally thought, leading them to a much more personal mission. A mission of revenge and rescue.

The story itself isn’t too great, but at the same time it is brilliant because it is so original in the way that it unfolds. Although the story is fictional, it’s surrounded by all the horrid things that happened to black people in this shameful time period.

So if you’re easily offended by words or actions in films, just remember that things like these actually happened… just with less CGI. However, for every grotesque action that occurs, a humorous counterpart is also included, usually at the expense of the main characters.

This film is full of great actors as well. Amongst them is Leonardo DiCaprio who plays an overly well mannered and very wealthy southern “Mandingo” trader called Candie.

He is ridiculously charismatic and has more than a taste for blood when it comes to his slaves.

We also see the great Samuel L. Jackson return to a Tarantino film. He plays Stephen, Candie’s overly loyal household attendant. It’s without a double safe to say that Jackson steals the show in this one.

Somehow he’s more aggressive and racist (but let’s face it, no one can drop the N-word like Jackson) than any other character during the entire film and you can’t help but love him for it even though you know you shouldn’t.

The soundtrack to this film is also brilliant. Loads of it is based around freedom or the lack of in most cases. But there are also the odd moments when something amusing is happening and the music in the background is so unfitting that it forces that smile on your face to turn into a laugh.

Django unchained was a brilliant film that will have had the people of Hollywood worried due to its raw way of portraying history. It had absolutely superb acting and the music was perfectly fitting. Unlike some of Tarantino’s previous films (such as Inglorious Bastards) that turned out to be like Marmite (you either love it or hate it) Django Unchained has no chance of that happening.

This is up there as one of Tarantino’s best and most people will enjoy watching it. It’s a bitterly funny film set in a shameful American era and you really should go and see it.