The film definitely shows off Tarantino's strengths as a post-modern humorist and performance director. This might be DiCaprio's best work ever. Waltz is such a natural with Tarantino's words and his own comic timing. Foxx is understated, but does good work. There are a great number of bits (like Django's original clothing choice) while also showing the horrors of slavery.
Tarantino manages a great balancing act, and this is where his cinematic ultraviolence really works to his benefit. In huge shoot-outs, the violence is free and over-the-top, but realism is deployed in several scenes depicting the abhorrent violence of the South, such as:
the forced fights to the death, the man being torn apart by dogs, and even the sores on Django's ankles when his shackles are removed.
The mix in styles does an excellent job of informing the audience when the filmmaker is being more serious in his intent and depiction.
Unfortunately, the film does show Tarantino's weakness as a dramatist. He has problems tying everything together narratively (recalling
Inglourious Basterd's two main plot threads never truly intersecting in any meaningful way.) The third act of
Django is a mess.
There are some major problems with the $1200 deal. That Calvin Candie is able to simply remove the $1200 from the dentist's wallet is way too easy. In fact, there are still bills in the wallet. So the film is saying that, despite this entire plot to infiltrate Candie Land, Schultz and Django could've just afforded to buy Brünnhilde at anytime.
What would be dramatically more interesting is if Schultz and Django could not afford to purchase Brünnhilde. But instead of the narrative being a life-and-death struggle, it just becomes one of pride over a few bills. Tarantino does not set the right stakes for this conflict.
Everything after the shootout feels like rushed storytelling. Disposing of Candie really dissipates the vengeance plot, and instead muddies Django's quest. Of course, it's all about Brunhilda, but shifting the clear antagonist to Steven's Uncle Tom, is weak dramatically and questionable symbolically. Those looking for problematic elements could ask if Tarantino is implying that the true villains were the blacks who tried to get in the best position with their white slavers rather than the whites themselves.
Worse than the villain-shifting, there are not one, but two (!), musical montages, back-to-back, which rush Django back to action and to a truncated rescue of Brünnhilde. I'd have to think that were Sally Menke still alive, she wouldn't have let those pass, nor the constant amateurish flashbacks throughout the duration. Further, the Australian scene is among the weakest in the film, and the final scene of vengeance is just dramatically inert. There is no obstacle to Django, and without Candie, nobody takes the reins.
Overall, I really enjoyed
Django Unchained. I laughed a lot and had a great time at the movies. But the dramatic divebomb of the third act really hurts my impression of the film.
