Just finished the script for Django Unchained. It’s good. Not great, but good. Has a chance to be great though depending on the execution. Maybe a few too many characters and not enough overall character development, but the final act is worth it. The scope and grandeur of the vision should be worth it.

Overall Tarantino does a pretty impressive job of bringing the Old South to life. You feel like you’re there. He’s created a world, more vivid than World War II-era France. You feel like you discover things you never knew existed (whether they did or not, it certainly feels like they could have, or should have). I can only imagine how it will look and feel in vibrant, colorful moving pictures. Has a chance to be pretty powerful in that respect.

I can’t think of any filmmakers in recent history that have attempted to put on screen what Tarantino will with this film. Maybe none ever have. It could be utterly singular with some amazing set-pieces. That being said, surely this will be one of the more controversial American films to come out in the past 10 or 20 years. Everyone will be up in arms talking about it and attacking it for one reason or another. Therefore, it won’t surprise me if it makes twice as much money as Inglourious Basterds did. Especially if there is a huge black star in the lead role. If Will Smith gets the part, game over. This will be a bona fide hit. I’m just speaking economically, not aesthetically.

I now have high hopes that this will be his best film since Jackie Brown. It should top Inglourious Basterds by a long shot. Destroy Death Proof. Best Kill Bill because of its more concentrated focus. There is both comedy and also some pretty horrific, brutal stuff. Very little irony. People will also be happy to know there’s very little “pop cultural” Tarantino dialogue (maybe that goes without saying, being set in an era that precedes modern pop culture and all). It will probably be the most naturalistic dialogue he has ever realized on screen. Though truthfully the Waltz role is way too deferential to his role in Basterds. It’s the only thing in the script that sounds fake and forced. In fact, if his role were lessened somehow, similar to the presence of Bill in Kill Bill, that might help propel this film into “excellent” status. It would certainly make it more of a star vehicle for the lucky lead player. As it stands now the film is a duo and does not need to be.

It’s got the revenge plot structure. Technically the whole film is a revenge quest. Yet somehow the emotions drive things rather than bloody action. If Tarantino modulates that balance and really works on the character development in another script draft, he could have the audience screaming and cheering with satisfaction in the aisles.

“If ifs and buts were candy and nuts…” Enough speculating. Django Unchained will be the only great love story Tarantino has ever put on film. Better than in Jackie Brown because it is more naked than in that film. More literal. And since this will be the only great love story he has ever put on film, many will say it’s the greatest thing he has ever put on film, period. They could be right. Let the anticipation begin…