Saw it over the weekend. IMHO, it is Tarantino's best work. Better than the Kill Bill series, better than Inglorious Basterds, and, dare I say it, even better than Pulp Fiction. It has everything in it a Tarantino fan would love....and then some. Both the GF and I really enjoyed this movie. I'd give it a 9.9/10.
Let's not go overboard here. Schindler's List, this is not. And anybody that thinks that this film can compete with say, Get On The Bus, in terms of black issues is seriously deluded. That is not to say that Tarantino's film doesn't have merit. I particularly enjoyed Leo's "eugenics" speech, and I thought that the botched "Raid" was effective at peeling away the persona of the gentleman that participate in that sort of activity (KKK), in a Wizard of Oz kind of way. Again, Tarantino's film has some merit to it, but it isn't so much social commentary than a revenge story, and really, if you think about it, that's what all Tarantino's films, at least the last few starting with kill bills, are. Saying, this is what we SHOULD have been done. Rather than what was done.
This happened in my theater as well. Made me give the people's eyebrow. My audience was also at least 50% black. I think this movie is good for people to see because I do think that slavery is seen in the wrong light by generations today. I had a conversation with someone recently who was arguing that black people's "immigrant experience" wasn't any worse than other races. They've all "had it tough."
The audience in our theater was like 70% black. Including like 5 year old black kids. Was examining the row in front of me to see the brothus reactions and they were laughing throughout and clapped at the end of the movie. It seemed it was the white people who were very quiet. #guilt
I've noticed black people always talk at the screen, clap and cheer in theaters. It's annoying as hell
Hahaha there was this middle aged black man directly in front of me freaking out during at the end with Django killing everything in sight. He was like this but leaning all the way back in his seat with his fists clinched at ear level.
I have a hard time saying it was guilt. Hard to feel guilty about something I wasn't around for. People were probably quiet for the fact it's strange to be laughing at scenes where black people are getting slaved when your sitting next to them. The movie was enertaining. The guy from Inglorious Bastards made that film though. Jamie Foxx also had his moments as well but count me as one of the few that believe Tarentino missed out on hitting the homerun. Would watch again.
Some NSFW language: <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/b-dtPr_c5Mw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
That's what black people do huh? They're all annoying aren't they? Should've just thrown in an obligatory you people comment in there too
Consider me deluded. Django and GOTB deal with different issues in very different ways. Art has multiple styles; I think Tarantino's style is more effective than Lee's film school project style which is overly pedantic, preachy, and not entertaining. Django is a great jump off point for discussion. It is not the discussion itself. No one in their right mind would claim Django is Schindler's List. Tarantino gives us the patina of many aspects of slavery, which, as I stated includes, methods of control and torture, social structure, and treatment of blacks. That is worth something in my book, even if it doesn't present a bunch of art school graduates overacting angst at their skin color issues directly into the camera. Django is something I have wanted to see for a long time: A story with slavery and white supremacy as the setting. Django is just what you described, a revenge-action story with slavery as the setting delivered with the same entertaining, formulaic, Tarantino panache. Not a slavery movie that just so happens to have a story. There was little-to-no preaching. No p*rnography. Just a dude dealing with some awful schiznit. I like it. I appreciate it. I think heavy-handed Spike should take some notes. Spoiler More important than the raid was Don Johnson's character trying to explain to a female slave how to treat Django. "Should I treat him like white folks?" "NO!" I saw Get on the Bus, when I was an undergrad. I was just glad to Get Out the Theater. Edit: Skip Gates and Tarantino talk about the movie: http://www.theroot.com/multimedia/tarantino-talks-gates-podcast-special
What?!?!?! Better than Pulp Fiction?!?! Bro....ease up...that could be considered sacriligious! If I'm ranking Tarentino's films....I'd probably go like this.... 1) Pulp Fiction 2) Reservoir Dogs 3) Django Unchained 4) Jackie Brown 5) Kill Bill Volume 1-2
Saw it yesterday with my wife and a couple of friends (guys) ... my wife was a last minute join on the movie and she's not a fan of blood and gore (she couldn't get through Kill Bills for instance), and even though I warned her, she decided to come. And so ... after the movie, I walked away impressed ... it was much better than I expected. Initially, I shyed away from the movie due to the slavery setting because such films are generally very serious and heavy films. To clarify, I eventually came around to watch Inglorious Bastards (on rental) for similar reasons. I pick and choose movies based on what I think will be entertaining and fun and I avoid serious films (another good example would be Lincoln). Credit goes to Tarantino ... he never lost sight of Django's story and he was still able to effectively impress the slavery aspects without trivialization. The acting was top notch ... Jamie Foxx surprised me in this one...Christopher Waltz carried good portions of the film, Dicaprio was solid and this was one of Sam Jackson's more memorable roles (for me). One last note, my wife, though she couldn't stand the blood and violence, completely enjoyed the movie. I would've never guessed.
