Review of The Hateful Eight (2015) by Who A — 24 Apr 2018

Before I watched The Hateful Eight, I saw a lot of negative reviews. Many people were complaining that the first 2 hours were painfully slow and it remained very boring up until the final hour. I was pretty concerned after reading all of those reviews and I was afraid that Quentin Tarantino would repeat the same mistake he made in Death Proof again. Hastily, I decided to watch this movie and hope for the best. I can safely say that I am very thankful that I watched this movie.

In order to take shelter from a blizzard, a group of people take shelter in a small cabin and decide to wait the storm out there. Among them is a man taking a female criminal to town so she can be hung for her crimes, a bounty hunter transporting the bodies of 3 outlaws to Red Rock, an incoming sheriff also traveling to Red Rock, a quiet cowboy going to stay with his mother, a former Confederate general, and several others. As more info is revealed about the different people there, rivalries begin to appear and they start to grow bitter hatreds for each other. It becomes possible that none of them will make it out of the cabin alive by the time the snowstorm stops.

For some reason, many people were complaining about the pacing. Sure, it does take a pretty long time for the gunfights to occur, but I found all the buildup to be exciting. I loved the sense of claustrophobia the movie provided and I felt that it provided a lot of suspense to the film. Also, the movie moved the story along nicely by slowly building up rivalries among the characters. It had several suspenseful scenes and the movie never felt boring because of this. I can understand why someone would get bored by the first 2 hours of the movie, but I didn't feel that at all. The movie kept me entertained from beginning to end. I feel that some people were expecting this film to have action from beginning to end.

As Tarantino fans know, Tarantino often likes to put his plotlines out of order. This has worked great for many of his movies and it works even better for this movie. Often, at times, the audience knows something that the characters on-screen don't know and it results in some of the most suspenseful scenes in years. It is revealed at one point that someone poisoned the coffee and it leaves the audience to wonder who will drink it. It is also revealed at one point that a gun is hidden under the table and someone who knows about it sits by it. There are also a few other details in the film which make the flashback scene very tense. Because of the disjointed plot structure, it made me want to watch it again.

Speaking of suspense, this movie sure contains a lot of it. In the final act, there are so many times when the characters come very close to getting killed and I become on the edge of my seat during them. As the movie approaches its end, I was fearing that something bad would happen to the characters I was rooting for at the very last second. My favorite scene in the film was when Bob plays quiet, relaxing songs on the piano while Warren taunts Smithers. The peacefulness of the piano combined with the arguments between Warren and Smithers creates a truly suspenseful scene for the ages.

There isn't really that much character development in the film, but this didn't bother me at all because of the consistent feeling of claustrophobia and suspense. That distracted me from it so well that I didn't even notice it. Character development has been a problem in some of his other movies such as Kill Bill Volume 1 and 2, but this movie was actually able to engage me enough for me to not notice it.

Tarantino has had issues with sadism in his past movies, but there actually isn't a whole lot of it in this film. I'd say that the only scene which bothered me was the scene when Warren forces someone to walk through the snow naked, do something very gross, and kills him. That scene didn't have to be as sadistic as it was and it felt very crass as a result. Besides this scene, however, nothing else in the film really bothered me. Also, that is an incredibly minor complaint. Some might find the scene when one of the characters (I won't spoil who) get hung to be overly-sadistic, but I really hated the character who died in that way and I felt it was a very fitting and deserved end. I was rooting for that person to be killed and I'm sure everyone else was.

The cinematography is also pretty excellent in this film. Snowy landscapes are gorgeous to look at and the cabin provides an inviting and cozy feel to it. Also, the acting is very great. It gets better as the film goes on. Samuel L. Jackson steals the show and his acting role is very haunting due to how closer he gets to death as the movie goes on. Also, Tarantino's narration is actually pretty interesting and entertaining.

In conclusion, this movie is amazing and I couldn't have asked for a better film. The slow pacing didn't bother me that much and I found the movie to be very suspenseful. It had some of the most tense movie scenes I've seen in years and the disjointed plot structure works better than ever. I understand why some people didn't care for this movie, but none of their reasons affect my opinion of the movie. If you're a fan of Tarantino then this is a definite must see. Just don't expect this to have action from beginning to end like many of his other films.