Paramount+ Is Losing One of Tarantino’s Most Controversial Masterpieces In Less Than A Week

With the amount of backlash for certain choices that he’s made, Quentin Tarantino is no stranger to controversy. One Upon A Time in Hollywood was effectively cancelled in China over his portrayal of Jackie Chan, where he leaned heavily into racist tropes and unverified rumors about the martial artist. There was the accident on the set of Kill Bill that left Uma Thurman in the hospital after the director insisted she drive a “deathbox” car entirely too fast. And the weird, random hate-filled tirade against actor Paul Dano. But it seems that Tarantino’s most controversial work has less than a week left on Paramount+, the streaming platform it calls home.

Django Unchained, like its director, has received its fair share of criticism, on everything from Tarantino’s painful cameo to the sheer amount of racial slurs dropped seemingly for the sake of it—a choice that led to acclaimed filmmaker Spike Lee calling Tarantino out, saying, “Quentin is infatuated with that word.” But despite, or maybe because of, the controversy surrounding it, Django Unchained remains somewhat of a cult classic, with an 87% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Centering on a slave named Django (Jamie Foxx), who finds himself on a mission to capture two men known as the Brittle brothers, he accompanies a German bounty hunter, Dr. King Schultz (Christoph Waltz) until their mission is successful. Schultz frees Django, and together they hunt the South’s most-wanted criminals. Eventually, they find themselves at the plantation belonging to Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio), where they find Django’s wife, who is still a slave.

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“The good moments are really good, but each of them are bookended by one questionable narrative choice or a blast of QT style that doesn’t always help the film as a whole,” says Keith Garlington of Keith & the Movies. Toussaint Eggan of Polygon agrees, saying, “Packed with thrilling gunfights, tense drama, memorable quippy dialogue, and an impressive collection of breakout performances (minus Tarantino’s weird cameo), Django Unchained easily ranks among the very best films Tarantino has ever produced.” Although Mikkelao’s review on Letterboxed sums the film up the best: “Haven’t felt this much tension during a dinner scene since Shrek 2.”

All in all, Django Unchained is exactly the kind of film that one has come to expect from Tarantino: visually stunning, with a stacked cast that always impresses, and enough gore to last you the year. The film and the controversies surrounding it are nothing new for the director, so if you haven’t seen it yet, now is the time. The performances by the cast alone make the viewing worth it. 

Are you a fan of Django Unchained? Let us know in the comments before you head over to the ComicBook forums to see what other fans are saying.