Django Unchained (2012)

A German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz) helps a slave called Django (Jamie Foxx) escape because he needs the slave to identify three brothers who have a price on their head that the bounty hunter wants to collect. He makes a deal that after the brothers are identified and killed, they will go after Django's wife (Kerry Washington) who was sold to a brutal plantation owner (Leonardo DiCaprio). The latest film by Quentin Tarantino is an uneasy mixture of broad comedy and blaxploitation, more MANDINGO than UNCLE TOM'S CABIN. Has there ever been a comedy about slavery before? If you ever wondered what it would be like if the Three Stooges joined the Ku Klux Klan, this movie shows you. The film plays out like a variation of Tarantino's last film INGLORIOUS BASTERDS but instead of a Jewish revenge fantasy against the Nazis, it's an African American revenge fantasy against racist slave oppressors. While I'm ambivalent about the film, there's no doubt you're in the hands of a master film maker. Tarantino displays his love of cinema in just about every scene in the film and as always, his use of music is impeccable. With the exception of Don Johnson's hammy turn, the acting is excellent especially Samuel L. Jackson in the film's best performance as an Uncle Tom slave. The large cast includes Franco Nero (the original Django), Dennis Christopher, Bruce Dern, Russ Tamblyn, Michael Parks, James Russo, James Remar and Tarantino himself.