Christoph Waltz as Schultz and Jamie Foxx as Django in the film Django Unchained. Courtesy The Weinstein Company

Actors Jamie Foxx (L) and Leonardo DiCaprio are shown in a scene from the film "Django Unchained" in this publicity photo released to Reuters January 10, 2013. The film has been nominated for best picture for the 85th Academy Awards Thursday. The Oscars will be presented in Hollywood, California February 24, 2013. REUTERS/Andrew Cooper/The Weinstein Company/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT) NO SALES. NO ARCHIVES. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS. THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS *** Local Caption *** OSC34_FILM-OSCARS-_0110_11.JPG

Django Unchained

James Mottram

Django Unchained
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, Christoph Waltz, Kerry Washington, Samuel L Jackson
****

Quentin Tarantino returns with this Spaghetti Western-style slavery epic, one that's as profane and violent as anything in the Pulp Fiction director's canon.

It's 1858, and Foxx is Django - "the 'D' is silent" he announces - a slave desperate to rescue his wife (Washington) from the malevolent plantation owner Calvin Candie (DiCaprio).

Borrowing liberally from the original Django (1966) and Mandingo (1975), Richard Fleischer's film about slaves taught to fight each other, this latest mash-up is typical Tarantino: overindulgent, darkly funny, shockingly bloody.

But with the superb Christoph Waltz, as an eccentric German bounty hunter who aids Django, revelling in Tarantino's loquacious script, it's an electric ride - one that, despite its 165 minutes, won't leave you saddle sore.