Bombastic.

Bom-bas-tic, adjective: (Of speech, writing, etc.) high-sounding; high-flown; inflated; pretentious.

Now that might on the surface appear as negative criticism of the latest work by the renowned eccentric director Quentin Tarantino, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. It is a bit true, obviously. This is not a film to watch if you wish to be presented with an accurate and damming depiction of the American slave trade. Do you want to watch a film with Jamie Foxx naked and people who lose inordinate amounts of grenadine and Christoph Waltz as the man with the exceptional beard? Well sir, tie your horse up outside, place your sixshooter down on the table, have a whisky and sit back, for Django is all of this and lot more.

Like all of the most recent Tarantino exploitation style films, there is a gossamer thin veil of attempted seriousness to this film which fools no one after the first thirty seconds. When I first watched this film, I was sat there thinking to myself, okay Myles, this is long and remember what happened during Inglorious Bastards? Yes, you fell asleep. No, I know, there is a lot of talking and I don’t blame you, but it reflects badly on both of us when you squirm around it your sleep talking. I soon as I saw that the absolutely sublime Christoph Waltz was on-board, I made sure that I would watch this as well, as his portrayal of the SS Officer Hans Lander was the best Nazi (should I say that?) I’ve seen on the silver screen since Ralph Fiennes as Amon Goeth in Schindler’s List. The rest of the cast, prior to viewing, didn’t matter to me. However, as soon as Leonardo DiCaprio flamboyantly introduced in possibly the greatest nod of the head committed to film and then slowly reveals the dark and abhorrent nature of his being, you can only sit back and watch in repulsed fascination. I chose chocolate as my snack of choice and soon decided I didn’t want to eat anymore. Afterwards the days it goes on for I thankfully had that cache of uneaten treats to gorge on. That was good.

The plot essentially revolves around Schultz rescuing Django from some slave traders, in which a horse’s head inexplicably blows up, and together, like the odd couple, they go on a joint business venture killing bad people. As Django states, there ain’t nothing better than killing white folk and being paid for it. At this point I questioned where he had ever seriously looked at the potential job market. Relatively soon, about a day into the films running length, Schultz realises that Django’s wife, Broomhilda, has been taken into slavery (took me by surprise, that) by the owner of the infamous plantation ‘Candyland’ run by the evilly unsweet Calvin Candy. The film does become a long rollercoaster ride of twists and turns and genuinely does have a lot of ideas which keep it chugging along at a nice pace. At points I was there thinking, okay the resolution must be coming up soon, then sitting back in my chair as it all goes tits up for Django and he now had more to do. There are pieces that, for myself anyway, felt like they didn’t go anywhere or add anything to the overall plot. Jonah Hill, despite touring with the crew, really did not do anything. It was more as if his character appeared for several minutes in a scene which had no impact or overall addition to anything. It was amusing, but just felt like filler or an excuse for Quentin to write amusing dialogue for the sake of it.

One of the main controversies of this film was the use of racial slurs, which to be honest; the amount of complaining was more excessive than the use of the term itself. Not being around in the 1800’s I am unaware how integral it would have been to their vocabulary, but I imagine they would have used it a fair amount. And really, it’s said by nearly every single character in nearly every sentence nearly every minute, I became desensitised rather quickly. I nearly didn’t notice when it was uttered or spoken or shouted and after the film finished would go around using the term without realising. It’s fine when I call the ginger tabby cat it, but as soon as I mention the black cat it’s considered racist. Another one of the factors of the film which is frequently brought up is the violence. Do you like over the top violence and people basically exploding into gallons of grenadine? Yeah whatever! It’s so comic book and, as previously mentioned, bombastic in its nature you can’t really be offended or sickened by it. The gore becomes a gag almost in itself with people bleeding and exploding left, right and centre with the music of Tupac Shakur running underneath. What would make it even more of a spaghetti western? Hip Hop of course.

All in all, did I enjoy Django and recommend it? Most certainly. The opening which harped back almost perfectly to the spaghetti westerns of old was perfect, the acting especially by Waltz and DiCaprio was some of the best of the year and more importantly, it was fun. It’s a fun film to sit back, relax, hold your bladder and just enjoy the spectacle which is put before you. This is the second in Tarantino’s planned alternative history revenge trilogy, so I can only imagine what the third will be. We’ve had Nazi’s, slave owners so now we are left with the evilest people in history; those who didn’t rewind their videos when returning them to Blockbusters.