Django Unchained

At different points during Django Unchained (2012) I felt like I should be amused or excited, offended or sickened. But Quentin Tarantino's new flick mostly inspired indifference. You can only see the same tricks umpteen times, and Django's only marked distinction from Kill Bill or Inglourious Basterds is its genre.

Texas 1858. Dentist-bounty hunter King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) frees slave Django (Jamie Foxx) and enlists him as a partner. King needs Django to identify the Brittle brothers, three slave overseers-turned-outlaws. The two quickly bond, with King agreeing to help Django track down and rescue wife Broomhilda (Kerry Washington). Unfortunately Broomhilda now works for Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), a brutal Mississippi plantation owner with a nose for intrigue.

Tarantino's nominal branching out from crime films has paid off handsomely. Audiences loved Kill Bill's blood splatter and Uma Thurman's strong performance, while Basterds won acclaim as a deconstruction of war films. Yet Groggy finds Tarantino's style extremely grating when applied to other genres. Django Unchained approaches the Western as Pulp Fiction in Stetson and chaps. (Aside from cribbing Luis Bacalov's title tune and a cutesy Franco Nero cameo, it bears no resemblance to Sergio Corbucchi's Django.)

Django Unchained is a lumpen, self-indulgent mess. Scenes go on interminably for their own sake, dissolving the expected tension and humor. You initially admire Tarantino's audacity in staging a Birth of the Nation-style Klan rally with the vigilantes complaining about ill-fitting masks. When it goes on for five minutes though the charm wears off. Every scene is like this, with Tarantino seeing no need to cut a single frame. For all the pretty scenery and loquacious persiflage there's not enough to justify the 165 minute run time.

The film's treatment of slavery raised many eyebrows. Suffice to say Tarantino dwells on its nastier side, from whippings and dog maulings to brutal slave fights. These scenes aren't played for laughs but feel jarring contrasted with Tarantino's jerky zooms, blood-gushing shootouts and jaunty hip-hop score. Django Unchained riffs on exploitation films like Mandingo and Boss Nigger, without their sleazy earnestness. Instead it plays like a really rotten joke.

In fairness, Tarantino gets some things right. Django's evolution from submissive slave to self-assured action hero is an effective character arc, making him an amiable black avenger. His buddy dynamic with King provides the film drive and focus. Tarantino sends up "scientific" racism by making Candie a phrenologist who justifies slavery by studying a Negro skull. Making Candie's house servant (Samuel L. Jackson) an even worse villain is another nice touch. These bits show the film Django Unchained could have been.

But mainly Django is just repetitive and overly familiar. Long passages merely rehash Basterds: King's verbose introduction, a "private" conversation auf Deutsch, Candie's tense dinner party, the explosive ending. Robert Richardson provides gorgeous photography but the landscapes and luscious detail don't advance the story. The last 20 minutes are completely superfluous. Tarantino throws in nifty homages to Spaghetti favorites like A Professional Gun (the bleeding carnation) and Sabata (King's derringer-rig) but they're fleeting moments.

Jamie Foxx is solid. Django's not the deepest character but Foxx has the perfect defiant swagger to pull him off. Christoph Waltz though falls too readily back on Hans Landa shtick. If Waltz has anything else in his repertoire he'd better break it out soon. At least he's less irritating than Leonardo DiCaprio, whose cartoon Southerner quickly grows annoying. Samuel L. Jackson's vicious Uncle Tom proves the most memorable character.

Tarantino provides numerous B-lister cameos. Not only Franco Nero but Bruce Dern, Don Johnson, Robert Carradine, James Remar, James Russo, M.C. Ginley and Michael Parks make brief appearances. More ill-advised are Jonah Hill as a budding Klansman and Tarantino himself, sporting the gnarliest Aussie accent this side of an Outback commercial. These walk-ons are fun but don't add up to much.

Which sums up Django Unchained perfectly. A movie with this much violence and controversial content ought to provoke some reaction. Sadly, Django Unchained is just more Tarantino silliness in a slightly different package.