Django Unchained

While Pulp Fiction will always be Quentin Tarantino's masterpiece, his latest effort, Django Unchained, is certainly a close second - very, very close.  It was only a matter of time before Tarantino turned his attention to the western, and, as always, Tarantino has managed to make the genre his own.  More of a "Southern" than a western (after all, it does take place in the American South), Django Unchained may very well be the best western ever made.

Set in 1858, Django Unchained follows ex-slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and dentist-turned-bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) as they attempt to track down a trio of prime targets.  That is not the main plot.  The main plot is their quest to buy back Django's wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington), from her owner, plantation owner Calvin J. Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio) - a task easier said than done.  Tarantino's hallmarks of a strong story, excellent dialogue, and spot-on casting are all evident from the get-go.  With Samuel L. Jackson co-starring, and Jonah Hill, Robert Carradine, Tarantino himself, and even Franco Nero (who starred in the mostly-unrelated 1966 spaghetti western Django) all making appearances, the film has everything going for it - and that's just the tip of the iceberg.

One of the most notable things about this film is, as with all Tarantino films, the dialogue - it's eloquent, profane (although not as much as Tarantino's other films), and downright hilarious (the scene with the trackers, including Carradine and Hill, gets more laughs than many comedies have in their duration).  The blood is red, and spurts out from wounds as if real squibs (as in, honest-to-God squibs using dynamite, like in the days of The Wild Bunch) were used, and not that crappy CGI blood seen in some more recent films.

Another thing I really liked about this film is Samuel L. Jackson.  Now, I'm a pretty big Jackson fan, but his performance here is just something else.  It reminds me heavily of Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks.  He hits all the right notes at the right moments, and is just a massive delight to watch.  It's a shame he doesn't get as much screen time as his fellow thespians, though - his character is deliciously evil and hilarious.

Okay, review's over.  Get off your lazy ass and go to the nearest theater that's showing Django Unchained.  Veet, veet!

Rating: 105/100 (it broke the rating scale)