Django Unchained (2012)

With the help of a German bounty hunter, a freed slave sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal Mississippi plantation owner.

Director:

Quentin Tarantino

Writer:

Quentin Tarantino

Stars:

Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio

Top 250 #46 | Won 2 Oscars. Another 28 wins & 53 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Jamie Foxx	...	Django
Christoph Waltz	...	Dr. King Schultz
Leonardo DiCaprio	...	Calvin Candie
Kerry Washington	...	Broomhilda von Shaft
Samuel L. Jackson	...	Stephen
Walton Goggins	...	Billy Crash
Dennis Christopher	...	Leonide Moguy
James Remar	...	Butch Pooch / Ace Speck
David Steen	...	Mr. Stonesipher
Dana Michelle Gourrier	...	Cora (as Dana Gourrier)
Nichole Galicia	...	Sheba
Laura Cayouette	...	Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly
Ato Essandoh	...	D'Artagnan
Sammi Rotibi	...	Rodney
Clay Donahue Fontenot	...	Big Fred's Opponent

Storyline

Former dentist, Dr. King Schultz, buys the freedom of a slave, Django, and trains him with the intent to make him his deputy bounty hunter. Instead, he is led to the site of Django's wife who is under the hands of Calvin Candie, a ruthless plantation owner.

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Plot Keywords:

slave | plantation | bounty hunter | freed slave | dentist | 

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Taglines:

The "D" is Silent. Payback Won't Be.

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Genres:

Adventure | Western

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for strong graphic violence throughout, a vicious fight, language and some nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English German French

Release Date:

25 December 2012 (USA)

Also Known As:

Django sin cadenas

Filming Locations:

Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$30,122,888 (USA) (28 December 2012)

Gross:

$162,804,648 (USA) (10 May 2013)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Weinstein Company, The, Columbia Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

165 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Datasat Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Leonardo DiCaprio was injured twice, both during rehearsals. Once with a glass he smashed with his hand, the second time with a hammer that broke and hit him in the head. For filming, the hammer he handled was made of foam and the glass smashing was nothing more then a sound effect.

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Goofs

In the ending credits the song "Minacciosamente Lontano" by Ennio Morricone is misspelled "Minacciosamente Lotano".

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Quotes

Stephen: I count six shots, nigger.
Django: [pulls out a second revolver] I count two guns, nigger.

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Crazy Credits

The Columbia logo is a pre-1976 version with slightly distorted colors.

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Connections

Featured in Revealed: Oscar Hopefuls (2013)

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Soundtracks

"Blue Dark Waltz"
Written and Performed by Luis Bacalov
Courtesy of EMI General Music Publishing SRL

User Reviews

Brutally hilarious and quite messy, but a total blast from start to finish

I only had one thought on my mind for this Christmas: see Django Unchained. Quentin Tarantino's latest opus, a Western set two years before the Civil War, concerns a former slave named Django (Jamie Foxx). He is freed by bounty hunter Dr. King Shultz (Christoph Waltz) in order to help him with a bounty. Quite quickly, Shultz takes Django under his wing and trains him as his partner. But he made him a promise: that he would rescue his wife from a plantation owned by the ruthless Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). And rescuing her is not going to be all that easy.

What pains me the most about Django Unchained, as a die-hard Tarantino fan, is just how sloppy it all seems. I enjoyed every minute of it, but I could never shake the feeling of how messy and thrown together it all feels. Portions of the film feel episodic (the search for the Brittle Brothers, mentioned heavily in the trailers, begins and ends practically within minutes), and some scenes just seem to play out just for the fun of it. Another scene from the trailers involving a lynch mob with bags covering their faces seems added for comedic purposes, and has no real point of actually existing. More than any of his films before it, Django feels like Tarantino simply making a movie for sheer pleasure and with no outside motivations or controllers.

The film threatens to go totally off the rails at any given moment, and lacks any real sense of direction or focus. It may sound ridiculous, but the loss of editor Sally Menke confirms a sneaking suspicion I always had about Tarantino – he needed a steady right hand to help encourage him as to what was needed and what was not. I do not want to criticize Django's editor Fred Raskin, but it is obvious he is no Menke and that works against the film heavily. It lacks the polish we have come to expect, and is practically stripped of the glossy/cool texture so prevalent in Tarantino's work up until now.

But then maybe that was his intention all along, and perhaps Tarantino is airing out his frustrations with life and film in general. Django is deliberately shot on film (or at least from the print I saw), and looks very gritty and messy at all times. It is significantly more brutally violent than anything he has worked on before (the borderline cartoonish Kill Bill included), and has a very go for broke attitude about itself. The film seems to revel in how brilliantly it can splatter all the blood and gore (done through the use of squibs and no digital!), and how uncomfortably numbing it can make the violence. I know he does not care what people think of his films, but this movie especially seems like an emphatically raised middle finger to the establishment. And for all of my complaints about how messy it all feels, I was never once bored or felt like the movie was dragging itself out. The staggering 165-minute running time shockingly flies by faster than you might ever imagine.

Acting wise, Tarantino stacks the deck with a number of recognizable character actors young and old for roles that vary in size. Most have very few lines, if any at all, and seem to just stand by, just as content as the audience is to watch the action unfold. It is a little off-putting, especially with how important some of these characters are initially made out to be. Washington as Broomhilda von Shaft (one of the most subtle references he's ever dropped) does well as the helpless victim and frequent dreamlike object – but she never really gets to show off any of her acting prowess outside of her facial reactions. They are increasingly effective, especially during horrific flashback scenes. But her work here feels ridiculously stunted in comparison to the other leads. Samuel L. Jackson, much like Tarantino himself, seems to just be having fun in his role as Candie's adviser Stephen. He plays on every ridiculous stereotype he ever has been associated with and then amps it up to a near ludicrous state. He is frequently hilarious, but the role seems to border on parody more than anything else.

Surprisingly, Foxx takes a very long time settling into the leading role. It may just be the character, but it is quite clear from the on- set that he is not very comfortable in Django's shoes, and leads credence to why Will Smith, amongst so many others, dropped out of the picture so quickly. But once he finds his footing, he does a fantastic job walking the thin line between empathetic and sadistic. It is not an easy character to play, but Foxx makes it his own, bringing a sense of style and grace that are virtually absent from the rest of the film. And of course, he gets all the best lines.

Waltz and DiCaprio are the clear standouts however, nailing every nuance of their sadly underwritten characters. While Waltz plays the straight man, DiCaprio is delightfully unhinged and vicious. Both are playing directly against type, yet are strangely comfortable in the roles. Watching them act circles around the rest of the cast, Foxx included, is the true highlight of the film. I just wish they were both given additional emphasis and more to do.

For all of its numerous faults, I had a blast watching Django Unchained. It is hilarious, it is a lot of fun, and is wildly enjoyable. I genuinely think it could have been a lot better if there was more focus and direction, but this is very clearly a picture Tarantino wanted to make on his own terms. And for that, I applaud him for the effort. It is not his best work, but certainly not his worst.

8/10.