First Reactions To Django Unchained Hit The Web

There has been much Oscar buzz around Quentin Tarantino‘s latest film, Django Unchained, for months now, but until recently, there was no actual reactions to tell us if it was deserved or not. However, that has started to change as yesterday the film finally started screening for critics, and now we have the first reactions from those who were lucky enough to see it early.

First up is Anne Thompson of Thompson on Hollywood, who gave us two tweets that read:

‘Django Unchained’ is a super violent spaghetti western with anachronistic songs. waltz and Jackson steal it. All talk and action. 1st screening.

Review embargo on ‘Django Unchained’. Trademark Tarantino: fun, talky, well-made violent revenge western with long takes, strong ensemble.

Not bad so far. Tarantino is known for his amazing dialogue, plus you may remember how reviews for his previous film, Inglourious Basterds, out of Cannes called it “overly-talky,” only for it to be declared one of the best films of the year later on.

Lou Lumenick of the New York Post had this to say:

Just watched what was basically a three-hour homage to ‘Blazing Saddles.’

A rather strange reaction. Sure, there’s usually a good amount of humor in Tarantino’s films, but one wouldn’t expect it to be quite as silly as a Mel Brooks spoof.

Last we have a lengthy reaction from Jeff Wells of Hollywood-Elsewhere who says:

It’s a complete Tarantino wankathon, a ’70s spaghetti western “southern”, about as un-period as it could possibly be, pop tunes on the soundtrack (including Richie Havens’ ‘Freedom’), 2 hours and 45 minutes long (and a really talky second hour that has to be experienced to be believed), sadistic and blunt, semi-‘thoughtful,’ comedic and smirking and about as cinematically sincere as an SNL skit, pockmarked with occasional fast-zoom shots, incredibly impressed with itself, howlingly funny at times, silly, stupid, undisciplined, simultaneously Mandingo-esque and an anti-Mandingo, tedious, a hoot, astonishing at times and too effing long. But at least it’s not three hours, which it allegedly was a while back. A lot of people are going to love ‘Django Unchained,’ but forget any awards action. Okay, maybe Leonardo DiCaprio or Christoph Waltz for supporting, but I doubt it.

There we have that “talky” complaint again, which makes me even more excited to see it, because nobody does great dialogue like QT. Several harsh words in there: silly, stupid, undisciplined, tedious. I would almost take this seriously if it weren’t for the fact that he really disliked Basterds, a film he described as being “long-winded” and “bad in hundreds of small particular ways,” so it’s best to take this reaction with a grain of salt. At the very least, he does admit it may have a chance at an acting Oscar.

Granted, it doesn’t look like Django Unchained will be on quite the same level as Tarantino’s previous film (though I’m ready to be proven wrong on that), a notion which started back when I read the screenplay, but we can most likely expect a fun film from the always reliable director. You can expect more reactions to keep rolling in as the film continues to screen for critics, so hopefully it won’t be long before we get a consensus.

Django Unchained hits theaters on December 25th.

(Source: Gold Derby)