Nothing says Christmas like a Quentin Tarantino movie filled with cursing, racial slurs and splatter. I think Jackie Brown was the last time he had the same opening date, usually his stuff appears in the Fall and Spring during the slow periods. To those who object to Unchained, you know you don’t have to go and if you did, what the hell did you expect given Tarantino’s track record? Idiots.
I was a bit more on the fence with my recommendation, probably giving it an asterisk as I did with The Hobbit; it appeals to a core audience I’m a member of while the general public not so much. Then I caught a delayed interview NPR had with him; delayed due to the latest school shoot ’em up. I’m ambivalent about QT but he nailed the interviewer back with his response of “Is there such a thing as a right person or a wrong person?” when it comes to making a controversial movie. The market allegedly decides which films succeed or fail, with the exception of Atlas Shrugged getting a part two despite dismal results; the rules don’t seem to apply to the true believers.
On to the story…
Thank you Hollywood for giving away the entire plot via the trailer. I still went to see how it would be executed and there wasn’t much else to see on Christmas Day.
My immediate observations:
- Jamie Foxx is the anti-Will Smith. Jamie gets the better, grittier roles. Will does the wider-appeal crap and it tends to be boring. If I never see another Will Smith starring vehicle, I’m good.
- Unchained may be inspired by the old Django Westerns from the Sixties but I think QT cribbed the premise from The Skin Game starring James Garner and Lou Gossett Jr.
- QT needs to stop acting in his films (or anybody else’s). Unchained ran too long like all past stuff and his weak performance almost brought the story to a screeching halt.
There were some laughs from the audience, especially during Samuel L. Jackson’s character. I found myself giggling at a couple things uncomfortably yet I’m OK with it, I’m a Yankee and I know my ancestors didn’t own slaves; half didn’t come to America until after the Civil War. A good movie entertains. A great movie challenges the audience. Does Unchained do the latter? I think it lies in between since the violence angle was covered by The Wild Bunch, the race part goes to Roots and QT’s cursing is par for the course.
Alamo Extras: Trailers for Westerns and Action films QT took inspiration from, namely a couple Django flicks; a weird movie about slavery starring Dionne Warwick and Ossie Davis; QT in a short fighting Japanese gunslingers over an egg.