Django Unchained

DJANGO UNCHAINED
2012 | Dir. Quentin Tarantino | 165 Minutes

 "Do you know what they're going to call you? The 'Fastest Gun in the South.'"


In 1858, a slave named Django is liberated by Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist-turned-bounty-hunter, in exchange for his cooperation in tracking down a trio of wanted plantation overseers. The implicit mythological nature of Django's story moves Schultz, and he decides to assist Django on his journey through the nightmarish heart of the American Slave Trade to free Django's wife Broomhilda.

Writer/director Quentin Tarantino's Deep South odyssey is an honest-to-goodness masterpiece. Repurposing Spaghetti Western tropes with just the right amount of anachronistic flair, Django Unchained is an expertly-paced, exhilarating ride that completely abandons the notion of moral grey areas in favor of heroes that are easy to root for and villains that deserve their violent ends without exception. After all, there is no moral grey area when it comes to the crimes of racist white supremacists, and those complicit in the atrocities committed are at least just as guilty.

The narrative is slightly more focused than a standard Tarantino film, unfolding in a strictly chronological manner save for a handful of brief flashbacks from Django's point of view providing immediate context, and meandering tangential side stories are at a bare minimum. The film is also aesthetically stunning, numerous exterior sequences set in the wilderness are simply beautiful, and action scenes make startlingly effective use of slow motion. One of the most striking shots of the film occurs when Shultz cuts down a fugitive with his rifle, the camera fixed on cotton plants as the outlaw's blood splatters onto white fluff.

Jamie Foxx convincingly portrays the titular dashing figure of bravery, conveying a broad range of emotion from fear to outright defiance. Delightfully eloquent as Schultz, Christoph Waltz shows off his versatility as well, his final moments contemplating the brutality he witnessed in Mississippi and confronting the deranged plantation owner Calvin Candie really stand out. Kerry Washington's presence as Broomhilda is felt throughout the first half of the film in the form of brief haunting visions, and when the character finally appears in the flesh, Washington exudes intelligence, vulnerability, and a real air of dignity.

As the sociopathic Candie, Leonardo DiCaprio delivers one of the best performances of his career, exhibiting an admirable measure of control playing a truly despicable antagonist. However, the most hateful villain of the film is Candyland house slave Stephen played by Samuel L. Jackson, a slave who is absolutely loyal to his master and complacent in his position of relative power and comfort. Jackson alternates between Uncle Tom caricature and menacing tyrant with a frightening level of dedication. The supporting cast of baddies notably features Walton Goggins as an irritating Candyland enforcer Billy Crash, James Remar playing both a slave driver in the opening scene and Candie's stoic bodyguard, and Don Johnson and Jonah Hill as dimwitted proto-Klansmen.

Epic in scope, visually splendid, and massively entertaining, Django Unchained distills Quentin Tarantino's talent for cinematic wish-fulfillment fantasy to its purest, most crowd-pleasing form. With engaging characters and bloody satisfying action, the picture is a worthy addition to the Spaghetti Western canon though with a distinct Antebellum Period twist.


POST-CREDITS STINGER
The trio of slaves who witnessed Django dispatch the LeQuint Dickey Mining Company slavers wonder aloud about the identity of the gunslinger.


THE STORY BEHIND THE TITLE
Django Unchained follows a long line of unofficial spin-offs and sequels to Sergio Corbucci's original Django released in 1966. A multitude of Spaghetti Westerns with "Django" in their titles are completely unrelated to Corbucci's film, and some don't even feature a character named Django.


QUENTIN TARANTINO AS...
- A Bag Head

- Exploding LeQuint Dickey Mining Company slaver with a terrible Australian accent


RED APPLE CIGARETTES
- Django rolls cigarettes with Red Apple Tobacco


CASTRATION WITH A BANG
- In the finale, Django shoots Billy Crash in the groin for threatening to castrate him earlier


NOTABLE NEEDLE DROPS
- The theme song from the original Django composed by Luis Bacalov with vocals by Rocky Roberts is a one of the all-time great Spaghetti Western tunes and truthfully the only way to open this film

- The theme song from Lo Chiamavano King (His Name Was King) also composed by Luis Bacalov with vocals by Edda Dell'Orso serves as a cute refrain for Dr. King Schultz

- Jim Croce's "I Got A Name" is a natural montage song for the sequence breezing through Django and Schultz's travels

- The theme song from Lo Chiamavano Trinità (They Call Me Trinity) composed by Franco Micalizzi with vocals by David King is the perfect laid back tension-dispersing tune to close out the film


FRAGMENTS
- Incidentally, Tarantino plays a brief but memorable character in Takashi Miike's 2008 film Sukiyaki Western Django, another acclaimed contemporary spin on the Django

- The Columbia Pictures studio logo that opens the film is a take on the design that was used from 1968 to 1976

- The film features original songs by Rick Ross, John Legend, Anthony Hamilton and Elayna Boynton, RZA, and legendary film composer Ennio Morricone whose tracks from various Spaghetti Western films are prominently featured in Kill Bill, Death Proof, and Inglourious Basterds; Morricone went on to compose the original score for The Hateful Eight

- Franco Nero, star of the original Django, makes a cameo appearance as Mandingo slave owner Amerigo Vessepi


007 CONNECTIONS
- Michael Madsen (Damian Falco in Die Another Day)

- Christoph Waltz (Ernst Stavro Blofeld in Spectre and No Time to Die)


MCU CONNECTIONS

- Jamie Foxx (Max Dillon in Spider-Man: No Way Home)
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