Quentin Tarantino is (like so many) a pompous, self-righteous, hypocritical Hollywood liberal. He condemns gun violence, etc. yet he makes some of the most violent movies due to gun usage that exist. "Django Unchained" is no exception. The gratuitous, unnecessarily brutal violence takes away from a movie that is well-written, well-acted and otherwise well-made. There are great movies that are violent, but not so overtly. Obviously, I could have chosen not to watch this movie. But what kind of movie watcher/critic would I be if I didn't view movies that are controversial? And this movie didn't bother or disgust me, I am just not a fan of the director and his double standards. I also didn't believe this movie fit the mold of "Spaghetti Western" because the Spaghetti Westerns that I love are far superior to this movie. This movie is no "Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo"...
OK, I am now off of my soapbox! Onto the movie...
Django (played by Jamie Foxx) is freed by bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (played excellently by Christoph Waltz) in order to help Schultz track down the notorious Brittle Brothers. Django uses this opportunity to track down his wife Broomhilda (played by Kerry Washington) which Schultz helps him. They eventually find her at the plantation of Calvin Candie, a brutal, awful plantation owner played superbly by Leonardo DiCaprio (as you've never seen him). As I don't want to give away too much, the rest of the story unfolds at Candie's plantation in brutal, violent fashion.
Did I like this movie? I guess I did, mostly due to the great performances delivered by Waltz, Foxx, Washington and DiCaprio. In DiCaprio's case, he plays a despicable, racist plantation owner perfectly. You've never seen Leo in a role like this and this performances only furthers his reputation as one of the best actors in the business. And Waltz continues to deliver great performances in every movie he's in. Oh...I almost forgot about Samuel L. Jackson's portrayal of a house slave who is 100% loyal to his slave master (Candie), which is also a good performance.
This is also a well-written movie that has a good story. Unlike most Tarantino movies, it is linear. It moves at a good pace and is engaging. I just can't get past Tarantino's smugness and I wish he hadn't won an Oscar.
So here is my rating...6.5/10 stars
No comments:
Post a Comment