Twenty years after our last encounter with a machine-gun toting wanderer named Django, we finally get to see what became of him in the years since his big gun-down in the cemetery, shooting the bad men with hands turned to hamburger under the hooves of horses.
This time around, the conventions of the first movie have been completely thrown out the window, a bold move on the part of the filmmakers that raised the ire of many Django fanatics. They proceeded to monkey around with the rule book and delivered a truly surprising sequel.
While numerous impostors strutted their stuff across movie screens for twenty years, the real Django headed south, leaving the sun-baked border towns of the first movie for even stranger places. Laying low and living the life of a cloistered monk, he traded his hat, pistols, and wanderlust for long hair and robes, his coffin long since buried.
Also gone are the influences of Sergio Leone and the American westerns, replaced by action and heroics more in the vein of Schwartznegger and Rambo, prompting the brooding Django to try his hand at snappy verbal quips as he blows up and blows away heavies, "Here, smoke this.", while the ending is reminiscent of the Charles Bronson vehicle The Evil That Men Do.
Overall, I thought it was great, with some inspired villainy by butterfly lover Christopher Connelly and a sympathetic role for the great Donald Pleasence. Franco Nero is as good as ever and actually more likable this time, going from amoral gunman to holy avenger and protector of children.
It's now been twenty-plus years since we last saw him. I think that maybe it's high time for Django to strike yet again.
This time around, the conventions of the first movie have been completely thrown out the window, a bold move on the part of the filmmakers that raised the ire of many Django fanatics. They proceeded to monkey around with the rule book and delivered a truly surprising sequel.
While numerous impostors strutted their stuff across movie screens for twenty years, the real Django headed south, leaving the sun-baked border towns of the first movie for even stranger places. Laying low and living the life of a cloistered monk, he traded his hat, pistols, and wanderlust for long hair and robes, his coffin long since buried.
Also gone are the influences of Sergio Leone and the American westerns, replaced by action and heroics more in the vein of Schwartznegger and Rambo, prompting the brooding Django to try his hand at snappy verbal quips as he blows up and blows away heavies, "Here, smoke this.", while the ending is reminiscent of the Charles Bronson vehicle The Evil That Men Do.
Overall, I thought it was great, with some inspired villainy by butterfly lover Christopher Connelly and a sympathetic role for the great Donald Pleasence. Franco Nero is as good as ever and actually more likable this time, going from amoral gunman to holy avenger and protector of children.
It's now been twenty-plus years since we last saw him. I think that maybe it's high time for Django to strike yet again.