django unchained (and unimpressed)

The Academy Awards are on the horizon, and nine movies are preparing themselves for battle, where only the best movie will win. In this corner, we have Quentin Tarantino’s latest, Django Unchained, a film set in America’s south prior to the civil war in 1858. The story follows freed slave Django (Jamie Foxx) who, with the help of bounty hunter Doctor Shultz (Christoph Waltz), is on a revengeful quest to save his wife, Broomhilda, (Kerry Washington) from the cruel plantation run by Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). With a tip of the hat to the old wild west genre and a comical twist, this film had all the ingredients to be a classic.

rating: ★★★

I’ll start by saying that the first two thirds of the movie was quite fabulous. With a completely engaging and comically well-timed performance by Christoph Waltz (who no doubt deserved his Golden Globe win), and the always impressive Leonardo DiCaprio (look out for the part where he accidently cuts his hand open, but stays 100% committed to the scene. Now that’s dedication!) the film’s beginning was exciting, action-packed and extremely funny, in particular, Jonah Hill’s appearance had the whole audience in stitches. Tarantino’s screenplay was witty, and the seamlessness of set design, costuming and cinematography made for an enchanting movie experience.

And then, it was like a switch was flicked. The plot quickly disintegrated, the dialogue became stale and cliché, even the editing began to fall over itself, becoming choppy and almost nonsensical, and by the end there were loose ties that were never resolved. None of this was aided by Tarantino’s cameo (I mean, come on, even Meryl Streep can’t pull off an Australian accent). I left the cinema disappointed and unfulfilled, kind of like having a dessert snatched away from you before you could enjoy the last bite. And we all know the last bite is the best.

But that's just me. Here's what my co-blogger had to say:

Madolyn
rating: ★★★
Much the same as Blake, I really really enjoyed the first two thirds, and I also just really love Christoph Waltz and baby Leo, who were both brilliant. There was just enough humour to lighten the underlying themes of the brutality of slavery, but it was about when Quentin himself entered the fray that things took a turn for the worse. I felt at that point that the movie could have wrapped up already, and I found myself actually looking at the time to see how long until the film finished, and I never, ever get impatient in movies, ever. I would recommend you see it, because obviously it's nominated for a reason, and the first part was great. It's not one I would watch again though, I don't think (and I'm the type that watches movies over and over and over.) I'm just gonna carry on with my life and pretend that last part wasn't a thing.