There's a lot to like in Django Unchained because there is a lot of stuff in Django Unchained... Boasting a running time of around 2hrs 45mins, this is a long haul flight type of a journey. The early, character setting, scenes create, build and add texture to Django and Schultz's characters. This early exposition does seem to go on for a bit and it isn't until around half of the film has passed that the main narrative of the film materialises (in a clear form at least). Once we arrive at that point, al things good about Tarantino start to appear.
The second reason why Django has a lot of good things going for it is that, simply put, when it is good, its is Tarantino at his best and most fun levels of good. Drawing exceptional performances from its entire cast, notably scene stealing Samuel L. Jackson and the ever reliable Christopher Waltz, this is a film made by (to spout clichés) someone who loves cinema. The set pieces are cartoonishly bloody at times, sometimes successfully but sometimes distractingly. It is constantly as brutal as you would expect from Tarantino.
To return to an earlier point though, the remarkable performance by Sam Jackson is what tilts this film into the right side of good... Playing wholly against type and playing a very complex and difficult character to engage with, Jackson manages to make "Stephen" both likable, funny, vile, paradoxical, hateful and vulnerable all in the short space of time he has the screen.
If the film had been trimmed by anything from 30 minutes to an hour, this would have been an incredible ride, less the sometimes needless exposition that adds little to the overall piece.
All said, Django Unchained is DVery DVery DGood. The "D" is silent!
I rated this movie 4 stars out of 5!
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