Film Review: Django Unchained

Going against the grain in so much as that I did not seem to enjoy Django Unchained as much as the rest of the people out there in the world.

While it is true that I very much taken while watching Django Unchained, I think Quentin Tarantino has only made a semi-cohesive series of 10 minute shorts - as opposed to an actual full length film. Some scenes feel like they were randomly put in the film- mostly for comedic value - and this did not work for me at all. Some other scenes were just so out of place it made no logic at all and added nothing to the grand spectacle that is Django Unchained. There seemed to be a mish-mash of what was actual necessary to the plot and what was disposable.

Perhaps Tarantino could use a better editor to shorten these overblown masterpiece's down to a more reasonable, viewer-friendly cut and save the pompous bloated edition for the Director's Cut on DVD. There is a good two hour film in there somewhere but Tarantino just needs to whittle out the crap and concentrate on producing the best film he can produce. If he can not actually do this then he needs someone beside him with the testicular fortitude who can.

EDIT: After investigating deeper it has come to my attention that long-time Tarantino collaborator and editor Sally Menke passed away in 2010 so that could indeed explain my feelings towards the overblown Django Unchained.

Also I thought the whole film was very musically heavy, like Tarantino could not go from one scene to another without using some sort of irregular choice of song. Yes, you are smart, we know. Just make the fucking movie though and stop trying to sell us the CD too.

With his previous track record of musically inclined films it felt like he was pastiching himself as I counted three consecutive songs back to back. That is terribly unprofessional film-making anywhere yo go - it does not matter if you are Quentin Tarantino or the director of a TV soap-opera, you just do not do that sort of thing. Ever. It certainly shows a lack of creativity and maybe, just maybe, the director can not physically tie together scenes anymore - hence his over-reliance on the soundtrack.

All those criticisms being being said Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson all were fantastic and worth the admission price alone - but overall Django Unchained just didn't sit well with me as it has with plenty of others out there. I much preferred Inglorious Bastards truth be told and that in itself was guilty of being over-blown as well.

Overall Django Unchained is certainly an enjoyable watch - but one that's about half an hour to long. Also if Tarantino could manage to not be so reliant on the soundtrack then that would be great [Bill Lumbergh style]. A self-indulgent film, but one that has some truly great performances inside.

A befuddled, muddled, straight down the line 3 / 5.