Django Unchained (2012)

I’m slightly hesitant about filing this as a Western, since it doesn’t have a great deal of Western feeling to it. Possibly more so in some of the bounty-hunting segments at the start, but the latter half of the film—which is dominated by an extended meal scene with a brutal southern plantation owner—is not particularly Western-y.

In brief, Django, a slave, is bought by a German bounty-hunter to help identify some outlaws he’s hunting and then subsequent freed, after which he becomes a bounty hunter and they go together to rescue Django’s wife from said plantation owner.

Some aspects of the film seemed a little bit of a mess: Django’s capture and escape before the finale seems pretty contrived (not the capture; the escape!), the KKK spoof scene seems out of place (although opinions on the internet are slightly divided), and it seems like there’s a few minor characters that look like they’re supposed to be in it a bit more but don’t have much to do (Wikipedia seems to confirm this). However, on the whole it’s good fun, if very violent. Franco Nero’s brief appearance was also very welcome, and quite appropriately chosen I thought. It’s clearly very good, just a long way from flawless.