Cannes Film Festival 2013

First trailer for Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' blasts its way online

Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonard Di Caprio, and a fistful of bullets

  • Critic's Rating A
  • Readers' Rating B+
<p>Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx co-star in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' this Christmas, and the first trailer is online now.</p>

Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx co-star in Quentin Tarantino's 'Django Unchained' this Christmas, and the first trailer is online now.

Credit: The Weinstein Company

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When I was at the Cannes Film Festival this year, I attended the special presentation thrown by The Weinstein Company to premiere footage from Paul Thomas Anderson's "The Master" and Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained."  I did my best to transcribe those clips as completely as possible for you, trying to share some impressions of those short glimpses at two of this year's most highly anticipated films.

Now the first official trailer for the film is here and it seems like a much tighter version of that clip package we saw with a few new shots thrown in for good measure.  It uses both the Johnny Cash and James Brown cues that we heard, it's got that great Franco Nero appearance right at the end, and it also adds the awesome new tagline, "Life, Liberty And the Pursuit Of Vengeance." 

Oh, hell, yes, Quentin.

He seems to have been recharged by the time he took off from filmmaking. I thought "Inglorious Basterds" was a ridiculously confident film, and so far, every clip I've seen from "Django Unchained" is just gorgeous, filled with humor and horror and a tangible love of the genre.  One of my theories about the work of Mel Brooks is that he was at his best when he was making movies that poked affectionate fun at genres he genuinely loved, like "Blazing Saddles" or "Young Frankenstein," while he was less successful when he was just making parodies of whatever is popular, like "Spaceballs."  I think one of the things that makes Tarantino's work such a uniform pleasure is his movies are very much about the movies he loves and the things he loves about them.  I always get the sense watching his work that he is delighted to be adding these images, these characters, these ideas to a tradition that he's loved his whole life.

You get a good look at the chemistry between Christoph Waltz and Jamie Foxx in the trailer, and the trailer also does a great job of setting up the game and the stakes.  You know what the mission is.  You know who the players are.  You see some Leonardo Di Caprio.  And, best of all, you see Jamie Foxx in his hilarious blue velvet outfit.

 
Between this and "The Great Gatsby," it's going to be a very Leonardo Di Caprio Christmas day.  It should be exciting on both counts.

"Django Unchained" arrives in theaters December 25, 2012.

Drew-mcweeny-sm
Drew McWeeny
Film Editor
A respected critic and commentator for fifteen years, Drew McWeeny helped create the online film community as "Moriarty" at Ain't It Cool News, and now proudly leads two budding Film Nerds in their ongoing movie education.
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  • Default-avatar

    Tye-Grr

    I love Jamie Foxx's blue suit! An early contender for my Halloween costume this year.

    June 6, 2012 at 7:44PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    tom

    from 1:50 on what's the song?

    June 6, 2012 at 8:04PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    Pocket

    I think this may have overtaken The Hobbit as my most anticipated film of the year.

    June 6, 2012 at 8:22PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    mgrabois

    Doesn't load any more, and can't find it on the Fandango site.

    June 7, 2012 at 2:51AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Fountain-small_talkback_profile

    Fawst

    I'll admit it... I don't get it. I wasn't a fan of westerns as a kid in the 80's. I don't think I've ever seen a Spaghetti Western. I highly doubt I've seen a single Eastwood flick that took place outside of modern times (yes, this includes "Unforgiven"). I have no frame of reference for this outside of "Quentin Tarantino." Having not seen "Inglorious Basterds," I can't sing the praises of Christoph Waltz.

    It's killing me that I am not as high on this as everyone else.

    The movie looks good, there's no doubt about that. There are some beautiful shots in here, no doubt about it, but I dunno. I don't like Jamie Foxx. The only thing I ever enjoyed of his was "Collateral." I'm still going to see this, and I'm sure I'll enjoy it, but I know that I'm "missing something." If people didn't constantly mention the last scene at the bar, I wouldn't know that that was "a cool thing." This reminds me of being left out of stuff when I was a kid, and it sucks. :)

    June 7, 2012 at 8:48AM EST Reply to Comment
    • Default-avatar

      Paul J Is that one of the scenes from the movie The Fountain?
      Anyway, just watch the movie Inglorious Basterds, then you will understand why everyone is so excited about Christoph Waltz.
      I, just like you, didn't understand this enthusiasm untill I watched the Basterds few days ago. The movie was absolutely gorgeous and so was Waltz

      June 7, 2012 at 11:07AM EST
    • Fountain-small_talkback_profile

      Fawst It is indeed! Love that movie.

      I'm going to definitely watch IB, it's just passed by me up til now. He seems charismatic and all that, I guess it's more the "I'm left out" part that bothers me. ;) Hopefully next week I'll be able to catch it.

      June 7, 2012 at 3:03PM EST
  • Annie8bit_talkback_profile

    Stormshadow4life

    i can't stand Jamie Foxx, but this movie looks pretty stinkin' entertaining.

    June 7, 2012 at 11:30AM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    gms

    A must see for my Christmas viewing .

    Jamie's outift , why, he's Little Boy Blue , and he's come to blow a mighty big horn !

    June 7, 2012 at 2:47PM EST Reply to Comment
  • Default-avatar

    gms

    I can't wait for December to arrive .

    As to Foxx's blue outfit , why, he's Little Boy Blue and he's gonna blow a might big horn !

    June 7, 2012 at 2:49PM EST Reply to Comment
    • Fountain-small_talkback_profile

      Fawst He's a little lad who likes berries and cream!

      June 7, 2012 at 3:02PM EST
  • Gamera1_talkback_profile

    KlarkKent

    Trying to decide how I feel about this. I enjoy Quentin's movies and I love Cristoph Waltz, but I find it hard to get excited about any movie with Jaime Foxx and Leo. If Kurt Russell was still in it, I'm sure I would be on board.

    June 8, 2012 at 1:55PM EST Reply to Comment

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