Movie Review: Django Unchained

Let's talk about Django Unchained, seen it yet? No? Go see it right now.
In case you couldn't tell, I loved it, and I'll try to keep spoilers to a minimum while telling you why I loved it, to save those who haven't seen it yet and are not following my initial instructions to go see it right this second.

I'm going to start by saying that I am a huge Tarantino fan. My favorite movie of all time is Reservoir Dogs, so much to the point I have a wall sized poster of it, and watch it at least once a month.  WIth that said, everything I've seen by him I've liked. That isn't to say that I don't agree with some critics who say "bad" things about some of his movies. I can agree with the fact that Inglourious Basterds, while amazing, was a little pretentious, or Death Proof, which is actually playing on my TV right this second, is really long and a bit boring at times. That doesn't make me love either of those films any less.

Moving on, I loved Django Unchained and had few to no issues with the movie.
The first thing that really drew me to it, other than my undying love for Christoph Waltz, is that I do love a good western movie. While its set in the south in 1858, as the title card says, its filmed a lot like a western movie.
Another thing that I really loved about this movie, is the amount of blood and gore in it. Thats a warning; if you aren't a fan of blood and gore, this might not be a movie for you. It can be fairly brutal at times, the opening scene alone sets how much blood comes out of a person when they're shot. Spoilers: it erupts out of them with a bit of a "squish" noise. Gross, but adds to the humor of the movie.
Another thing that you should be prepared for in the "brutal" category, is this is a movie about bounty hunters set during the time of slavery. Keeping spoilers to a minimum, that means a lot of shooting, a lot of death, and a lot of brutality (both physical, and verbal) towards those playing slaves.

If you can get past that, the movie is actually very, very funny. It stars Christoph Waltz as an anti-slavery bounty hunter, and Jamie Foxx as a freed slave-turned-bounty hunter. The dynamic between the two is amazing, starting out with almost a baby-sitter/mentor type relationship, where Waltz teaches Foxx how to be a bounty hunter, growing into equals.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays the villan, and let me tell you he does a wonderful job. The trailer doesn't give away too much of the movie, so I wont spoil it for you, but I will say the focus is the rough and tough pair going to rescue Foxx's wife from DiCaprio's plantation.

My only problem with the movie is the run time, 2 hours and 45 minutes. Unlike Basterds, where I thought the movie with that run time was too short, Django's run time was a bit too long. The scene before the last scene, in my opinion, was too lengthy...if needed at all. The only point of that scene was to acquire something to use at the end of the movie. I don't think they needed that scene, granted if they cut it, Tarantino wouldn't have his 10 minute on screen time.

The last thing I will say, is I loved Samuel L Jackson actually playing a character in this movie. Not that he doesn't act normally, but whenever I saw him in a movie prior, it wasn't really acting for me. Rather it was "oh now Samuel L Jackson is on a plane with snakes." His character in Django Unchained was funny, and well portrayed.

I'll leave you with this, the review my lovely boyfriend made as his Facebook status; "Django Unchained was tons of fun! None of the pretentiousness from Basterds and 100% more horses!"

And if that doesn't sell you on it, I don't know what to tell you.
Loren ♥