Review of The Hateful Eight (2015) by Captiosus — 28 Dec 2015

I am not a Tarantino fan: I like some of his movies but dislike others. That said, I enjoyed Hateful Eight, which was Tarantino's take on a spaghetti western with limited locations, character development and dialog driven suspense. Despite the styling, the 70mm filming process, and the Ennio Morricone score, Hateful Eight was one of his so-so films.

ALL of the characters are, as the name implies, hateful bastards. There's not a "good" character in the lot. The suspense comes in wondering how they're going to die and if they're all who they say they are. Walton Goggins as Chris Mannix carries the movie, in my opinion, with Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy Domergue coming in a distant second. Samuel L. Jackson as Marquis Warren is, well, Samuel L. Jackson (which is to say we know what to expect from him in this kind of role). My biggest character disappointment came from Kurt Russell as John Ruth, a bounty hunter and one of the first characters the audience is introduced to. His performance is decent but the character is utterly forgettable.

Ultimately, the movie runs too long and the end sequence flashback, although necessary to tie up loose ends, really disrupts the flow and suspense. Tarantino as the 'narrator' in some scenes really kinda sucked (sorry, don't have any better way to describe it) and, although I understand the style Tarantino was aiming to copy, the movie really didn't need a 12 minute intermission. Although it has the trademark Tarantino gore, it's more subdued than in his past movies and it doesn't dwell on the gore like, say, Kill Bill or even Django Unchained.

Overall I enjoyed it but it won't be for everyone. I give it a 6 out of 10 but I enjoyed it enough that I'll probably pick it up on blu-ray when it comes out.