Saturday, April 18, 2015

Django Unchained (2012)

Stylish, blood-soaked revenge fantasy, about an ex-slave who teams up with a German bounty hunter to rescue his wife, who's being held in slavery on a large Mississippi plantation. Excellent performances by Jamie Foxx and the always-interesting Christoph Waltz, with Leonard DiCaprio delivering a tour-de-force performance as the plantation owner. They are ably supported by such stalwarts as Samuel L. Jackson, Don Johnson, Russ Tamblyn, Bruce Dern and Franco Nero. Tarantino certainly knows how to tell a story, and the two and three-quarter hour running time flies by, even though overall the film is a bit less tight than his previous one, INGLORIOUS BASTERDS. What strikes me most is his obvious love of the landscape. There are some absolutely stunning shots of the Southern fields, sky, mountains, etc. that could have come straight from the Westerns of Hawks or Leone. Tarantino uses every inch of the frame to maximum effect, and the results are nothing short of breathtaking at times. It's Tarantino's sheer love for the medium that makes his work so compelling.

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