At some point I'd
like to get back to writing about tech, but it has been a bit difficult because
life has simple been busy! I've been loving life though and trying to fit in
dancing and training where I can. In the meantime - look! A post:
Kunta Evolved
I watched the BET
Awards earlier this year and at the end of the show Jamie Foxx and Kerry
Washington came on stage and introduced a montage of clips from Django Unchained and he set it up as what he
wanted to be the most influential piece of Black cinema since Roots. He introduced it as "Kunta
Evolved." I have to admit that I haven't actually seen the highly
acclaimed Roots starring Lavaar Burton,
though its power as a film is undeniable. (I'm putting it on my "movies to
see" list, but I didn't want to delay this review on seeing it.) So does it live up to such hype from Foxx
himself? I think it's going to be near impossible for Tarantino to ever have an
impact on pop culture like Pulp Fiction had, but I think this has got to be as
close as Tarantino could get.
In case you don't
know what the basic premise is (though in all their video ads and trailers
they've actually done a pretty good job of explaining it), Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) is a
bounty hunter who comes across a bounty for three brothers that Django (Jamie
Foxx) has seen and is one of a few people who would be able to identify them.
Hence, he recruits Django to help him with this in exchange for a small
percentage of the bounty, his freedom, and later the opportunity to rescue his
wife, Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). To make things more interesting, in true
Tarantino fashion this film is a homage. It's a devoted dedication to
Blaxploitation films with a nod to Spaghetti Westerns. It's a simple enough plotline
that is painted with dialogue so crazy only Tarantino would have the guts to
put it on the big screen, loads of suspense and emotion, and, of course,
cartoonishly vicious displays of violence wrapped in a revenge story. Revenge
is a common motif in Tarantino films (Kill Bill, Jackie Brown, Inglourious Basterds), and I think his take in this film is
actually a little different - but I think expounding out that would be a
spoiler so I won't. As a film, I'd probably compare it most closely to Inglourious Basterds, but with lots more
blood. And I mean a lot.
The acting in this
film is, as expected, phenomenal. I don't know what Tarantino puts in his
cast's water, but what excites me most about seeing his work is that no
performance leaves anything to be desired. I was a little disappointed that he
didn't throw any no-names in here or washed up actors - they were all actors
that you'd already expect to be talented. Kerry Washington is probably the
least familiar to audiences, and she is radiant. Though this film lacks strong
women due to the time period, I still saw the scenes with her showed inspiring
courage and immense beauty, even when dressed as a slave (to be clear: I'm not
saying she was beautiful because she was a slave, but that it was crazy that
even when she tugged on your heart strings for her deplorable state they could
never fully destroy her beauty). I don't know what to say about Christoph Waltz
that I didn't say in my review of Inglourious Basterds - he's a treat whenever he's on screen. You can't help but love
him as an actor and his character as a person. Even though he kills people for
a living, you still have to root for him. Jamie Foxx is an often underrated
actor, but given the right material he can really do something special - and I
think he does here. As far as the antagonists go, you can't help but love to
hate Sam Jackson and Leonardo DiCaprio. I'm sure its hard as a human being to
say some of the stuff they had to say in this film (especially for Samuel L
Jackson), but they were such unique villains. While I did see similarities
between DiCaprio here and Waltz in Inglourious
Basterds, I liked how the movie almost made you forget at times what a
terrible person DiCaprio is. His Southern sensibilities almost hid it away.
The set pieces and
costumes in the film were really great, not much I can say here. The costumes
really put you in the time period and the set pieces were nice gradients of
muted plains versus elegance. I was a little disappointed that the set pieces
didn't lend themselves to any exceptional cinematography. In past Tarantino
films there are a number of scenes I remember specifically because of the
images they conveyed that were burned into my brain, but I didn't really have
much of that here.
The soundtrack is
ridiculous - it's a must-buy. I'm actually listening to it right now and, per
normal, it drums up in me memories from the movie. It's got Rick Ross, John
Legend, 2Pac, Ennio Morricone and the standard bevy of quotable quotes from the
movie. I love that there are theme songs
for King and for Django - those are nice touches. Tarantino typically forms his
soundtracks before he starts shooting his films, not the other way around. For
a music-lover like me, this is not lost on me.
I know this has been
an all-out lovefest, but this is far from my favorite Tarantino film. First of
all, it's just too long. I know he's a really passionate director and he wrote
the script so he's naturally very attached to it, but he needs to get a better
editor. Two hours and forty-five minutes
is just ridiculous. The final act went on for far too long. I'd have to watch
it again to tell you exactly what I think needed to be cut, but I think
Tarantino had too many ideas he was trying to convey here. I really wish he
would've picked a couple and focused on those, and then just given us the rest
as deleted scenes later. I also thought there was also too much violence in
this film. It wasn't hyper-realistic like in a war moving, but it also wasn't
humorously ridiculous violence like in Kill
Bill. At times the violence was definitely a little disturbing. Even
when characters you're rooting for kill people, you may sometimes cringe. It
was so much so that I walked out of this film not really sure how I felt about
it. I only realized how much I liked the film as a whole hours later when I was
recalling it and the scenes that struck me and emotions that were stirred up in
me. It's just not a super easy film to re-watch again and again compare to his
other work.
So, should you run
out and see it? If you can stomach buckets of blood and being reminded of how
awful slaves were treated, go for it. It's a worthwhile ride to be on even with its flaws. While it may not be Tarantino's best work, it's easily one of the best
(maybe the best) I've seen all year. My letter rating is an A-.
