Jamie Foxx: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

5 Awesome Performances...

5. Django Freeman €“ Django Unchained

Admittedly, Foxx isn't the brightest light in the Django Unchained constellation, but that doesn't mean we should disregard him. Sure, Leonardo DiCaprio's glass-in-hand performance runs off with the movie, Christoph Waltz's Dr. King Schultz was excellent (but let's be honest, not Oscar excellent) and Samuel L. Jackson makes a spirited play for MVP in the latter stretch, but they're not the title character. That honour falls to Foxx, and he proves the mighty edifice upon which the whole film rests. Simply put, he has to turn in a good performance, or you'll be left with a sour taste in your mouth. And to Foxx's credit, he doesn't disappoint, offering a believable (well, semi-believable, this is the Tarantino-verse) character arc as a traumatised slave turned badass bounty hunter. Come the midway point, Django is pretty much always the hardest man in the room, and Foxx puts across this sense of coiled menace and take-no-bull attitude extremely well. His bickering with Calvin Candie's henchmen proves a highlight, and you can totally buy that even a super-ultra-racist Calvin Candie is enthralled by our hero, who he regards as a one-in-a-million example of his race. He's certainly more menacing than Will Smith, anyhow.