Django Unchained: Tarantino at His Best

Prior to the post, I would like to discuss the trailers that preceded Django Unchained. I don't know if it's the quality of the movies that were previewed or that the trailers themselves, but — of the ones I hadn't seen before — none of them made me want to see the films.

Bad trailers are nothing new, and most recently, the preview for Admission staring Tina Fey and Paul Rudd was — for lack of a better term — awful. At my showing for Django, I saw Movie 43, Oblivion, Dead Man Down, Pain and Gain and Zero Dark Thirty. Besides the last one, the others looked terrible. I have no idea what Movie 43 is supposed to be about (maybe that's the point), Oblivion looks generic, Dead Man Down has some good actors in it but nothing stood out, and Pain and Gain is produced by Michael Bay and has a roided up-looking Mark Wahlberg and The Rock as the stars.

My only question is, who decided these trailers were good and thought that the Django Unchained audience would be the best target? My thought is money has to be behind this, and the studios are sending the trailers to every movie in order to build an audience, instead of knowing it.

I digress:

4.

Django Unchanied

If I'm going to properly begin this post let me start by saying: the n-word.

For all of the things that occur in this movie, the controversy over the use of the n-word is the most ridiculous. The film is set in the pre-Civil War South, and the people in that place, and of that time, said that word like we say bro or dude. If Tarantino didn't include it, he would be ignoring a big part of the movie's setting and tone. Racism occurred, and is part of Django's back story.

Outside of the controversy, this movie is pretty freaking great. It is classic Tarantino, and a whole lot of fun. The humor is on point, the blood is as cartoonish as ever and the performances are top notch. Christoph Waltz has to be the find of the century, and it's a wonder how he wasn't discovered earlier by Hollywood. His chemistry with Jamie Foxx is the best part of the movie.

It will come as a shock to no one that Foxx was the perfect choice to play Django. His mixture of intensity and wit brought the character to life better than any other actor could have. My favorite Foxx moment was not during one of the action scenes or his tremendous banter with an on-top-of-his-game Leonardo DiCaprio, it was the quiet moment when he asks Waltz' Dr. Schultz to tell him an old German tale. The vulnerability of Django in this scene is a testament to both Foxx's acting and Tarantino great script.

Just like every other Tarantino film, the supporting actors give the movie personality. The last hour belongs to Samuel L. Jackson. He appears on screen and steals the movie. Kerry Washington looks heavenly, and the quick cameo by Don Johnson is exactly what you'd expect.

My only criticism of the film is that it's about 10 minutes too long. The scene between the climax and the conclusion is too slow and drains the momentum of the movie. I understand where Tarantino was going with it, but instead of slowing the movie down, he slammed on the breaks. But after this interlude, the movie ends exact how you were expecting it to 10 minutes earlier.

Release date: December 25th

Reason for ranking: Pretty much even with the next film on the list, but one key factor separates them for me personally; read the next post for the exact reason.