The Case for Chainlessness

I think it is a given that, going to a Quentin Tarantino film, one expects to see extreme violence, lots of talking peppered liberally with obscenities, and the obligatory cameo by the auteur himself.  Django Unchained has all of these elements, on the last of which is a bit disappointing.

Set in pre-Civil War USA, a travelling Doctor (the marvellous Christoph Waltz who wins every scene he is in, and those without him are the poorer for his absence) pairs up with a slave, Django, (Jamie Foxx) to catch crooks and win back Django’s woman.  The catching crooks involves a whole lot of gun slinging, and bullet shooting, which leads to a whole swimming pool of blood erupting from people’s bodies whenever the most minor of hits is palpable.  The getting to the crooks requires a great deal of talking and explanation (Don Johnson as Colonel Sanders and Leonardo DiCaprio as Mr Candie get a lot to say), though as its set in the Wild West, there aren’t too many pop culture references that Tarantino can put into their characters’ dialogue, so instead there are a whole heap of n*****rs thrown in for good measure, and when Samuel L Jackson gets a hold of that word, there are a millions shades of meaning that he is able to invoke.

And then there is the Tarantino cameo.  >Sigh<  At first I thought he was playing a South African, but after a few sentences and a conversation with another character with the same ethnic origins, it became apparent that he was meant to be Australian.  >Sigh<  Luckily, he is not around for long.

The film itself is long and occasionally meandering.  There is some amazing cinematography of the beautiful mountain and prairie landscapes of the continental USA, and the odd “woosh” shots into extreme close ups for Tarantino’s stars.  Only occasionally does meandering equal boring.  Along with some of the dialogue, the soundtrack suffers from the period as well, with most songs stuck in the Western style and none really evoking a sense of cool, more a sense of pulp.  

Despite all that, the film doesn’t drag – well, it does when the good Doctor is not on the screen.  As mentioned, his departure robs the movie of a sense of charm and wit, as most other characters are brooding or half insane (perhaps more than that).  Jamie Foxx plays dangerous pretty well (a torture scene in which he is the recipient implies he has the… balls and the abs to succeed Daniel Craig as the next James Bond), but his character is a little on the dull side, despite the movie having his name on it. 

That said, and as I have already said, the film itself is everything you would expect from a Tarantino oeuvre and so, for that reason, if you like his stuff, you should like this.  Things get completely unhinged in the last half hour or so, which is an odd change in tone from what has come before, but again, perhaps that is to be expected.  It’s not as brilliant as Inglorious Basterds, which I recall with amazing fondness mainly for the scene entirely in German, but it is an entertaining, if occasionally hyper violent and linguistically base, ride. 

Verdict: Django Unchained releases the talented Tarantino once more on the movie realm.  More of the same only different, a spaghetti Western where blood is trucked in by the supertanker, the film will probably appal anyone with any sense of decency, but is a lot of fun for anyone else.  More Christoph Waltz please!  6.5 Reservoirs out of 10.