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    Django Unchained

    Reviewed by
    adamwatchesmovies@

    "Django Unchained" is often funny and brutal; it's always well acted, sometimes incredibly frightening, frequently tense and overall very good. This Quentin Tarantino picture follows an African-American slave named Django (Jamie Foxx) who teams up with a bounty hunter named Dr. King Schultz (Chrisoph Waltz) In exchange for some help finding a particular group of outlaws, Schultz agrees to help Django free his wife (Kerry Washington) from the cruel plantation owner that has purchased her (Leonardo DiCaprio)

    The performances are all very strong, with Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz and Samuel L. Jackson (who plays a house-slave that serves as a major antagonist) standing out as characters that you love and cheer for intensely or hate above anyone else and can't wait to see get blown away. As is the case with most of Tarantino's scripts, this is a sharply written, wonderful film to listen to, with clever dialogue, quick, witty jokes and more than one memorable speech. It's a trademark of the man but that does not make it any less worth pointing out. What I liked is that the characters in the film feel intelligent and seem to think quickly on their feet (despite the fact that all of their dialogue has been pre-determined by the script) because of Tarantino's knack for dialogue. It feels very satisfying to watch it knowing that the characters are as smart as you are; you feel confident that even though the heroes are in a jam they'll find a way out, even though you realize the villains are just as brainy and could catch up to them at any second. The film often turns into a mental game of cat and mouse where the antagonists are trying to outwit or expose Django and Schultz by provoking them with racist remarks or asking them a tricky question. You know eventually it's all going to explode, but the question is "when" and "how"?

    One concern you might have is that the long running time (close to 3 hrs) will make you lose interest in the story. I found the exact opposite to be true. The long duration helps make the movie completely unpredictable. At a certain point you totally lose yourself in the film. Usually when I'm sitting in the movie theatre I can mentally calculate about how long I have been sitting there and if I see that hour and fifteen minute mark coming, I know things are going to start wrapping up so I can somewhat predict how the characters are going to act in order to reach that conclusion coming up. In a movie this long, it's nearly impossible. You're just stuck watching without a clue as to when It's all going to wrap it's up or whether or not that traditional 3 act sequence is about to kick in. My advice is to clear your schedule, turn off your cell phone (as if you needed an extra reminder) and just watch the movie. Let it move at its own pace and you will find yourself completely immersed.

    There has been some controversy over some of the use of language in the film but considering how brutally and authentically the cruelty that is slavery is shown, I'm of the opinion that the film would feel less authentic if it had held back. I don't feel like it's delighting in the fact that although the events in this film never happened, the images of slavery in it are probably based on real events. The reasons you should see "Django Unchained" are numerous and if I wrote them all down, it would take you that much longer to finish reading this review and go out to see the movie. It's one of the best films of the year and you shouldn't miss it. (Theatrical version on the big screen, January 11, 2013)

    10
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    adamwatchesmovies@  12.7.2015 age: 26-35 2,867 reviews

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