More of exercise in aggressive style then an actual movie, Sukiyaki Western Django is fun sensatory candy and little else. Based (very loosely) on the Italian Django films series, the story follows a young Japanese Cowboy (Hideaki Ito ) who rides into a town and gets himself caught in between two gangs, the whites and the reds, that are after the town’s secret buried gold. Throw in a wronged woman seeking revenge, an old lady with a secret past, a terrible cameo from Quentin Tarantino and a slew oddball characters on the side-lines and you have yourself…a movie? Not really. For it’s international release, the film was cut from it’s extremely painful 138 minute running time down to a more easily digestible 95 minute one (Both will be available on the North American DVD release) the final Django product is breathy ride that is fun while it lasts, is filled with vivid visual flourishes (and swooping sound effects) ands is ultimately a hollow beast. The action arrives in short burst, is competently done, and unspectacular. The idea of having everyone in the film speak their dialogue in English phonetically makes for some hilarious line readings but gets old pretty quick. Don’t see it without Subtitles. I was disappointed that the concept of a Japanese/American Western was never fully utilized. Sure, some of the set design and costumes reflected the fact that the film took place in a weird pseudo-reality, yet, they never pulled out all the stops and created a complete culture clash.
(He’s only bitching because the Sword/Gun fights that we’re promised never really materialized)
Even with all of the negativity, I highly recommend the film for what it is. Nothing more.
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