Django Unchained Review: Tarantino Takes On the Antebellum South
8.5/10 — Django Unchained (2012)
Pros
- Waltz and DiCaprio are superb
- Daring soundtrack
- Memorable set pieces
Cons
- Heavy violence and language
- Overlong final act
A freed slave, Django, teams up with a German bounty hunter, Dr King Schultz, to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner in the antebellum South. It is Quentin Tarantino’s take on a spaghetti Western.
What works
Christoph Waltz is delightful as the loquacious Schultz, and Leonardo DiCaprio is chilling as the charming, vicious Calvin Candie. Samuel L. Jackson steals scenes as Stephen, and the film’s stylised violence and soundtrack of spaghetti Western and hip-hop music are thrilling.
Where it falters
The use of slurs is excessive, and the film’s treatment of slavery as a revenge romp is controversial. The final act drags.
Verdict
Bold, bloody and entertaining, if you can stomach its provocations.
