In Quentin Tarantino's latest revenge
fantasy Django Unchained, Jamie Foxx plays the titular slave
who is freed from bondage by the eccentric Dr. King Schultz
(Christoph Waltz) to become his partner in bounty hunting. As much as
Django likes his new job of “killing white folks for money”, his
bigger yen is to rescue his wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington) from
the plantation where she serves the childlike but intangibly
dangerous Calvin Candi (Leonardo DiCaprio).
While a great deal of Django
Unchained is very enjoyable, it is self-indulgent to a fault. I
understand that criticizing a Tarantino film for being indulgent is
like criticizing the sky for being blue, but the excesses of this
movie really makes you feel the length of it. At 165 minutes, it's a
picture as badly in need of a trim as our unshackled, unshaven
ex-slave is at the beginning of it.
