Review: Django Unchained

Smashing two concepts together is a curious business - about as curious as the length of time that it takes to travel between Knightsbridge and South Kensington on the Piccadilly Line. But who else to turn to than Quentin Tarantino? With his latest feature film Django Unchained, he has delivered a serious labour of love.

Already being tipped as a strong contender for the Golden Globes, Django Unchained is Tarantino's chance to go full Spaghetti Western. Of course, it's not that simple. This, for want of a better phrase, is a Southern Spaghetti Western - one that tackles slavery head on.

And this celluloid slavery isn't simply a background element that's routinely passed over. Here it's ugly, it's raw and it's very real. There has been talk among critics that this film fulfils some kind of adolescent desire to slip racial slurs through the censors, and while this is unflinching, fast-paced and kinetic, it's never played for poking fun at race or slavery. Instead, much like Inglourious Basterds was Tarantino's filmic revenge on Hitler, here it's his revenge on the slave trade.

Acting almost as a companion piece to the fast and loose historical nazi-scalping adventure, Django Unchained again takes a past setting, here the America of 1858. The plot centres around slave Django (played in a winning performance by Jamie Foxx) searching the Deep South for his beloved wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). However, Christoph Waltz steals the show once again following his turn as the diabolical Col. Hans Landa in Basterds. As dentist turned bounty hunter Dr. King Schultz, Waltz is at all times hugely threatening with the capacity for violence and also an immensely pleasant character.

Django and Schultz (whose horse, Fritz, may be even more of a scene stealer) buddy up as they traverse the land as a bounty-hunting duo. It's not long before the duo come face-to-face with vile plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio). Much focus has been placed on DiCaprio's turn as the rotten toothed villain. While you can tell he's having the time of his life, drawling it up like nobody's business, so are the rest of the ensemble players, and it's fantastic to watch.

I could wax lyrical about the strength of the cast: Kerry Washington brings a more-than-convincing bilingual turn as Broomhilda, and Samuel L. Jackson's long awaited on-screen return to the works of Tarantino pretty much gives everyone a run for their money, portraying Candie's nefarious and wholly loyal slave, Stephen.

Other than a fantastic cast and its colourful historical setting, it's the regular tension, much like in Basterds, that is at once unbearable and gripping. One major scene featuring the majority of the main cast ratchets up the stress to an almost ungodly degree before letting go. And let go it does.

Indeed, it's not a film for the squeamish (this is, after all, Quentin Tarantino we're talking about). Blood splatters as freely as ever, and the film is unflinching in portraying the barbarity of the slave trade. In response to the standard questioning of the amount of violence present, Tarantino has spoken of his desire to not gloss over the issues at hand. Speaking to the Guardian, the director explained that “however bad things get in the movie, a lot worse s*** actually happened.” Nevertheless, Django's rampage through the Deep South may call for a little cringing.

It may also call for a toilet break if you've poorly judged your hydration before sitting down to watch it. It's a reliably lengthy beast, clocking in at nearly three hours. However, while the film never outstayed its welcome, there were a couple of detours in a kind of 'whirlwind slavery tour' that didn't quite jam. This includes a sequence where Django and Schultz encounter some fanatic racists. The scene is played for laughs, but at least to me the joke went on a little too long. The folks at the screening thoroughly seemed to enjoy it though, and it brought some of the evening's biggest laughs.

Events also seemed to build up to a natural climax, before it transpired that there was a good twenty minutes left on top of this. The final act features some memorable moments (including an explosive sterling cameo from a certain individual) but I can't help but shake the feeling that the final sequence comes sneaking up out of nowhere.

In keeping with the genre, naturally Spaghetti Western composer legend Ennio Morricone turns up to compose a original piece, but it's the anachronistic soundtrack that sings. Rick Ross, the Teflon Don himself, lends his dulcet tones for one scene, but it's a combination of Tupac Shakur and James Brown that brought the house down when paired with a climactic set-piece of near orgiastic violence.

It's reliably over-the-top, funny and brutal. Out of the two historical Tarantino films however, I'd probably just choose Basterds over Django, if only because I personally preferred the greater prevalence of tense dialogue over Django's action set-pieces.

If you're a fan, it's essential. If you aren't sold on this particular brand, then this is unlikely to sway your opinion. If you're stuck in the middle, then delving headfirst into this tale of southern slavery is well worth it.

Django Unchainedis released in the United Kingdom on 18 January 2013