For the sum of his career, Quentin Tarantino has been moving towards making a western; indeed, so many of his pictures - be they in the gangster, war or kung fu genres - are pretty much western movies in disguise. So the arrival of Django Unchained was an inevitable one, and for the most part, the talented writer/director delivered. And yet Django Unchained is not without its problems; it's also not better than Jackie Brown, which doesn't place. The issues inherent to Django Unchained are as follows, then: firstly, Tarantino indulges himself to such an extent that the whole picture is threatened by his unwillingness to call it quits. The film's final segment, running at about 40 minutes, should have been cut entirely (as should his own ill-judged cameo). It also suffers heavily from the fact that Tarantino can't do what he does best, writing in pop cultural references, thanks to the archaic timeframe.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
