Django Unchained

Violence-obsessed writer-director Quentin Tarantino pays tribute to the spaghetti Western genre in this action-packed, blaxploitation/revenge fantasy. Set in the South two years before the Civil War, the story follows former slave Django (Jamie Foxx), who partners up with genteel but ruthless German-born dentist/bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Oscar winner Christoph Waltz), an expert at psychological gamesmanship. Their first order of business is to kill three murderous brothers and claim the hefty reward. After spending a winter honing his gunslinger skills, Django is determined to find and rescue his enslaved wife, incongruously named Broomhilda von Shaft (Kerry Washington). Sold at auction in Greenville, MS, she is owned by smarmy, smooth-talking Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio); her job is to pleasure Mandingo fighters at Calvin's disreputable Candyland plantation. Schultz concocts a clever scheme, but it ultimately raises the suspicions of skeptical Stephen (Samuel L. Jackson), Candie's complicit slave/confidante. Predictably, the cruelty is brutal and the racial epithets fly, but what's surprising is how absurdly comedic the Oscar-winning script is, particularly when a Klan raid turns into a Mel Brooks routine, as riders argue about not being able to see through ill-fitting hoods. Indulgent, excessive, and entertaining, this is Tarantino at his bloody best. Highly recommended. [Note: DVD/Blu-ray extras include a “Remembering J. Michael Riva” tribute to the production designer (13 min.), a soundtrack spot, and trailers. Exclusive to the Blu-ray release are the production featurettes “Reimagining the Spaghetti Western: The Horses & Stunts” (14 min.) and “The Costume Designs of Sharen Davis” (12 min.), as well as bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a small extras package for one of 2012's best—and most outrageously fun—films.] (S. Granger)