FILM #8 Django Unchained (19.1.13)

Film #8 Django Unchained

"Hi, my name is David and I've been a fan of Tarantino since 1992"

"Hi, David."

I can't help thinking 2013 is going to be remembered as the year of the long film, because Django makes the fourth film in a row I've seen that clocks in just south of 3 hours in length.

Of Tarantino last seven films, I've loved three - Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown and Kill Bill Vol 1. which all got a 10/10 from me and I thought the others, apart from Death Proof, were all solid 8's or 9's. So it's safe to say my expectations were running high.

For me, Django falls into the second camp of Tarantino films and feels more like 2nd Tier Tarantino than first. More Inglorious Basterds rather than Kill Bill.

It's filled with superb performances, Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio and Christoph Waltz who are all just brilliant (why Leo hasn't won an Oscar yet is beyond me)! Yet despite all this, Django just didn't move me that deeply, it's good, just not great. It's Tarantino on cruise control and certainly at his most straight forward. There's none of the fractured structure of the past, just lengthy scenes filled with his measured, almost languid dialogue, interspersed with moments of simply staggering and brutal violence.

There's been much talk of the 'N' word being over used in this film and it's certainly used alot! But interestingly, after a while it starts to lose its power and impact and becomes after a while just another lazy word, maybe that was Tarantino's intent?

I think it's a film that might grow on me with repeat viewings, although I fear these will have to wait for DVD.


8/10