"The D is Silent"
About a year and a half ago I read the screenplay for Tarantino's newest film, Django Unchained. About two months ago, I reviewed it here, where I gave it four stars. That was on the basis of its writing qualities, nothing more. A script can be amazing on paper and terrible on the screen. Or vice versa - there are many masterful films that don't read very well on paper. So today, Christmas, Tarantino's latest film since his eight-time Oscar nominated Inglourious Basterds opened in theatres. How does it compare to the quality of the script?
Let me start off by saying I love Tarantino, despite every single film he's made (including this one) since Kill Bill has been the "revenge" story. Nobody has ever really called him a one-hit wonder, but I've heard him described as a filmmaker who tells similar stories in slightly different ways and gets away with it. Whatever *you* want to think, *I* think he makes films that are just flat out entertaining as hell (aside from Death Proof). And with Django Unchained, he's continued his streak of daring, fun, stylized entertainment. And with this film, he's elevated his game in many ways; it's one of his most visually stylistic films. It may be his most brutally violent film (Kill Bill Vol. 1 had its abundance of blood, but that was more cartoonish and over-the-top than the bloodshed here). And, perhaps best of all, it is hands down the funniest film he's ever made.
I dare you categorize this film into a genre. Go ahead, try. Because I can easily make defenses for this film exhibiting considerable traits of the western, the revenge film, the love story, the action film, and the comedy. Tarantino has always mixed comedy into his films, in one way or another; but never has it been so outstandingly upfront, accessible, and conspicuous. This isn't to say that the film lacks its share of subtle laughs like Inglourious Basterds or Pulp Fiction, but there's much more universally perceptible comedy in this one.
The comedy is fascinating, because of all Tarantino films, this one deals with the darkest subject matter. Sure, Inglourious Basterds dealt with Nazis, but it never directly addressed the Holocaust, Holocaust victims, or anything of that ilk. Django Unchained specifically explores the horrors of slavery in 1850s America; the horrible conditions, the back-breaking potentially deadly labor, the despicable ministration, the list goes on. His spaghetti-western style flashbacks, always dealing with slaver-to-slave treatment, are gritty, horrifying, and stylistically shot. Most importantly, the comedy elevates what would normally be cringe-inducing horrific material into a more upbeat, crowd-pleasing piece of entertainment.
Tarantino peppers the film with a wide variety of well-known actors, some in larger roles, other in very small roles. Of course, Jamie Foxx (in his best performance since Ray) and Christoph Waltz are the main characters, but we see the likes of Kerry Washington, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Walton Goggins, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Johnson, M.C. Gainey, and in one of the film's best "wink" moments - Franco Nero, who has a brief conversation with Django that is hilarious, if you know who Nero is. I think I was the only one in the audience who laughed at that curt exchange between the two. All of them are fabulous - the particular stand-outs are the two leads, as well as DiCaprio (destined for an Oscar nomination), and Sam Jackson (who as well should receive, but likely will not, a nomination as well). Jackson provides some of the film's best laughs in the second half.
The soundtrack is at times, totally out of place for a western, but somehow it works perfectly. Inevitably, the original Django theme song is used, several times. Like all Tarantino films, the music is eclectic, audacious, and makes the entertainment all the more... entertaining.
Technically, the film is perfect; the cinematography outstanding; the editing brilliant; the costume and set design pitch perfect.
From the original script, some dialogue was cut, necessarily so. The ending was changed some, and my concerns about the third act were not a concern on the big screen at all. Once the film transitions into its third act, we experience nothing but sheer action thrills from that moment to the explosive climax. This is the film that Tarantino has been leading toward his entire career - most of his films have drawn influences (either heavily or subtlety) from spaghetti westerns, but here he brings us a film that has "spaghetti western" branded all over it. It is exemplary of all the Tarantino trademarks and then one-ups up them in such a variety of ways I dare not even list them all.
It may not be as ground-breaking as Pulp Fiction by any means; I doubt any Tarantino film ever will be. That film was arguably the most influential film of the 90s, I doubt he'll ever accomplish such a feat for any subsequent decade again. But, this is his maturest, funniest (by leagues), violent, flat-out entertaining film since the revolution known as Pulp Fiction. It is the perfect synthesis of style, substance, laughs, suspense, action, acting, and entertainment I have seen all year.
One of the year's best!
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