Django Unchained and Its Place in the Tarantino-Scape

Perhaps no director in this era has a more distinctive style than Quentin Tarantino. Since the early 1990s, the Tarantino style has exploded into the mainstream and each of his films can be identified as a "Tarantino". Highly stylized, with bright colors, taking bits and pieces of several genres and mashing them up in graphic films, with bold soundtracks.

No element of Tarantino's films, however, is as important as the unforgettable characters in his films, who are among the most memorable in all of cinema. Mr. Blonde. Jules Winnfield. The Bride. Aldo Raine. Hans Landa. The list is long and well-deserved.

So, as I took my seat in the theater waiting for Django Unchained to begin, I knew what I was about to see. Approximately two hours and forty-five minutes of badassery, driven by what was sure to be a character in Django ready to become a legend, and strongly supported by the other elements of Tarantino's films that elevate them to pantheon level: outstanding direction, an amazing soundtrack, and witty, bold dialogue.

And as the movie went on, I found these always-reliable elements to be fantastic. The set, cinematography, and soundtrack were the best in film this year. I mean, Rick Ross in a spaghetti western? Only Tarantino could pull that off.

But something was missing. It was kind of like driving a $250,000 Ferrari with all its bells and whistles and trying to accelerate with the engine of a Toyota Prius. And on the drive home from the theater, I figured out what that missing element was. Frankly, Jamie Foxx was boring. He was downright flat, for the entirety of the movie. He had one expression on his face the entire time, and while his actions most definitely fit with other characters in Tarantino's movies, the actor playing him didn't live up to that badassery. He was simply overwhelmed by Christoph Waltz and Leonardo DiCaprio (who gave a brilliant and wildly entertaining performance in his own right).

I'm sure my point will be vastly disagreed with, but Django Unchained, to me, is the first Tarantino movie where the supporting elements of the film had to come in and save it from a boring main character. These elements were so fantastic that Django Unchained, as a whole, is still a very, very good movie. But Jamie Foxx dropped the ball on this one and I will vehemently disagree with his nomination for Best Actor when it comes from the Academy.