Review of Sukiyaki Western Django (2007) by Dustin D — 05 Nov 2016

Takashi Miike's mix of gore and quirky humor was appreciated in Ichi the Killer, but comes off as a miscalculation here. He is making a tribute/parody to spaghetti westerns, particularly Django/A Fistful of Dollars, with a lot of references and in-jokes to fans of the genre, but it comes off as self-gratifying and excessive, and seems more like an exercise than a film for general audiences.

Miike had something of a Tarantino flair, and Quentin Tarantino makes a cameo in this movie. Tarantino's Django would be a much better film, and more fitting send-up of the Italian predecessors. There are too many characters in Sukiyaki Western Django for any one to shine (although, Masanobu Ando and Kaori Momoi had their moments).

For me, the main reason this film didn't work is the strange decision to have all the Japanese actors stumble over English dialogue. This, along with the humor that seems to be trying too hard, makes Django hard to get invested in and to sit through its 98-minute runtime.