Review – The Hateful Eight

Whenever Quentin Tarantino makes a movie, it is an event.  He is one of the best, wildest, most unique directors working in cinema today.  Audiences can’t wait to see his movies, expecting something they’ve never seen before, and most of the time, they are not disappointed.

With his eighth feature film, The Hateful Eight, Quentin Tarantino brings everything that he usually does in his films;  expertly written dialog, ridiculous violence, classic cinema homages, great technical work and solid performances.  Now while those elements might usually equal a great movie, when it comes from Quentin Tarantino, the movie becomes somewhat of a let-down, as it ends up falling victim to Tarantino’s self-indulgence.

The Hateful Eight pits a group of bounty hunters, lawmen, and cowboys, played by Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Walton Goggins, Bruce Dern and Damien Bachier, in a cabin that holds a wanted murderer with a large bounty on her head (Jennifer Jason Leigh) during a blizzard in post Civil War Wyoming.  As the night transpires, the group becomes involved in a plot of betrayal and deception, causing the body count to rise and bonds to be broken.

The entire cast is excellent.  Filled with mostly Tarantino regulars, they have no problem reciting his words and becoming the characters that he has written.  Jackson is terrific and has some great monologs and action scenes.  He reads Tarantino dialog better than anyone.  Goggins, known more for his acting on T.V. in shows like The Shield (2002 – 2008) and Justified (2010 – 2015) is a blast to watch as the naive, racist new town sheriff.  Hopefully he gets more film roles after this.  And Jennifer Jason Leigh deserves Oscar recognition for her insanely fun and rowdy performance as murderer Daisy Domergue.  She really gets to shine after the intermission, especially towards the climax, when everything starts coming together.

The movie is technically amazing.  Shot in 70mm. the movie looks gorgeous, with beautiful cinematography that pops off the screen.  We get epic shots of the snowy mountains of Wyoming that are simply stunning.  The music by Ennio Morricone is some of the legendary composers best work.  Tarantino wanted to make “The Hateful Eight” like movies that were made 50 years ago.  This is a three-hour long epic that even includes a beginning overture and an intermission just under two hours in.  He succeeds with the look and feel of the movie.

The Hateful Eight is far from perfect however, as I have a few issues with the film.  Firstly, it didn’t have to be three hours long.  Tarantino and editor Fred Raskin could have easily cut twenty or thirty minutes off the film and it would have had the same overall effect.  I don’t usually care about the length of movies if it is used right, but this could have been cut down.  Next, the payoff is kind of a bummer.  I can’t explain anything without spoiling the entire movie, but it isn’t what I wanted.  The entire movie plays out like a violent, Western version of Clue (1985), until the end.  It was kind of a let down and I know Tarantino is better than this.

My biggest gripe with The Hateful Eight is that it feels kind of like a Tarantino rehash.  Since Pulp Fiction (1994) and Jackie Brown (1997), Tarantino has made bigger movies that are flawed but always have something memorable or new in the film that he had yet to accomplish or do.  The fight against the Crazy 88’s in Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003), the performance of Leonardo DiCaprio and the final shoot out in Django Unchained (2012), all of Inglorious Basterds (2009), these are examples of things that elevated the greatness of Tarantino’s newer, larger movies.  In The Hateful Eight, there was nothing new.  Everything in the movie was just typical Tarantino.  There was no epic performance or scene that elevated the movie.  Some parts are funny, exciting and filled with tension, but nothing really stuck out.   We’ve seen him do a Western (Django Unchained), we’ve seen him do movies mostly set in one space (Reservoir Dogs (1992)), we’ve seen all the blood and gore and we’ve seen similar characters in other movies.  And sure, the film is shot in 70mm, but it didn’t need to be and I feel that decision was kind of a gimmick.  The end result felt like Tarantino was impersonating himself rather than reinventing himself.

The Hateful Eight is not a bad movie by any stretch.  It has some great performances and looks and sounds beautiful.  It is, however, one of Tarantino’s worst films, right next to Death Proof (2007).  He is still one of the great directors we have today, but unfortunately, this film is a let-down.

MY RATING – 2.5/4

Did you see The Hateful Eight?  What did you think?  Comment below, or hit me up on Twitter @kevflix or on Facebook at my page, Kevflix.

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