Django Unchained Critique

Django Unchained Critique

            I watched Django Unchained for one of my film critiques because when I saw it in theaters it instantly became one of my favorites! I actually went and saw it 3 times, I thought it was that good. The setting of the film is in 1858 in the United States where slavery was still prevalent. A Bavarian Bounty Hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Christopher Waltz) buys a slave named Django, (Jamie Foxx) in the hopes of training him as an accomplice and assistant in his bounty hunting duties. In their quests, Dr. Schultz promises Django to find his wife and save her from the witty and merciless slave owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DeCaprio). Being a Quentin Tarantino film there was lots of blood, great storyline, and an amazing ending.

            Django held some of the best film elements of the year! The acting was great by my standards. Christopher Waltz did an awesome job and of the three main characters, he was my favorite. Leonardo I thought did a very good job even though I heard he was not a very big fan of the part. I imagine it may have been good practice for his upcoming film Gatsby. Foxx did a decent job and I think he fit the part well but lacked the qualities of an amazing performance. The types of shots used by the director were mesmerizing. A myriad of close ups and long shots using zoom to focus on certain objects. Also through the film there was many great shots that showed action without showing the entire action. For example there is a part where a man gets shot off a horse. Instead of showing the man getting shot and him falling off of the horse as a result, the director decided to picture from the horse’s chest down will the man falling off at the legs of the horse. The sound editing was excellent in my opinion. There is a scene where a man gets eaten alive by dogs. Without actually showing the action, the sound designer was able to make the audience not even doubt the fact that someone was being torn apart, from limb to limb by 3 ferocious, man-eating dogs.

            As for the director, well what is there more to say, its Tarantino! He is one of the best and for a reason. I like the fact that he took a new direction on an old genre. While most directors and film-makers now days are jumping on the bandwagon and making superhero movies or futuristic scifi flicks, Tarantino has made a western “shoot’em up” style movie. He is able to show scenes and display action in a way much more creative and inventive way then that of most of his contemporaries. His directing style is so extremely refreshing and you can tell that he is making art with his movies, not just a box office hit to make some money. His choice in the soundtrack is equally as impressive and only goes along with his directing style and choice of filming. If you are unafraid of some blood and gore and are looking for s movie that is different from most of its time, Django Unchained is the movie to see.