The Hateful Eight

The Hateful Eight (2015)

75% on Rotten Tomatoes (out of 122 reviews)

Runtime: In the roadshow version I saw, 187 minutes long

Directed by: Who else but Tarantino could do a film like this?

Starring: I'll mention all of the Eight: Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Samuel L. Jackson, Bruce Dern, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Demian Bichir

From: The Weinstein Company

I figured I should see a movie in Ultra Panavision 70 as it's such a rare experience (it was a cool one... literally and figuratively) so that is what I did this afternoon at what is now known as AMC Theatres at Disney Springs 24. There are Tarantino movies I like more than this one; still, it was worth seeing. I explain it all in my Letterboxd review below:

I still am not quite sure how I acquired more than two dozen new followers in the past week or so-except that I presume someone mentioned me in a list, and I thank whoever did that-and yet how it happened isn't as important as I am thankful for all the follows; I followed everyone back. Now that I am back from Christmas vacation, I'll try to post as often as usual, which is every day to every other day.

One of these years I'll go through all of Tarantino's filmography in order to rate it here. Most of them I haven't given a rating to on Letterboxd yet. I hadn't seen them in years and more than just about any other director, I always have a hard time giving a score or having a definitive opinion concerning Quentin's motion pictures. I do understand those that don't care for his loud and in your face personality, and the charges that he does more than just “borrow” or “homage” certain elements of motion pictures for his works are serious so at times I am not the biggest fan of his. I can't say I hate his product like I've heard some say. Yet, I haven't loved everything he's done. While stuff like Pulp Fiction and Django Unchained are great, I did not care for either Kill Bill movie or in a case of blasphemy for some, Jackie Brown. I'll explain why in the future when I review those movies.

Anyhow, I saw this movie in the afternoon and it drew a decent crowd and a wide mix of people, who seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. The experience ended up being 3D as the auditorium was the same approximate temperature as the snowy Wyoming setting of the film. I won't go into details about this as it's brand new, so I'll be vague. The general plot is already known; I did not know much besides the idea that Kurt Russell (no relation, sadly) was dragging killer Jennifer Jason Leigh to be hanged and due to a blizzard they are stuck in a haberdashery, meaning a small wooden shack.

This is definitely a QT picture, and not just because of the extreme close-ups of feet. He is at least distinctive. He certainly tries hard... sometimes too hard, IMO. Here, as typical he has shocking moments, not all of them I thought were needed. Really graphic violence is one thing (I am typically fine with that) but seeing a woman get physically abused by various men... that is something else. I wasn't automatically offended; it's just something I would rather not see, you know, even if QT is making a point here and I did recognize. There seemed to be too many unpleasant moments, again something I recognize was sort of the point. Also, Quentin had to have given a middle finger to the Spike Lee's and others who complained about the N word and how often it was used in Django, as I swear the racism flew even more frequently here. It ended up being noticeable and excessive.

Yet, I can still give this a high rating and it likely will be on my Top 10 list somewhere-said list will be out in, oh, 6 months or so-as there is a lot to like. All of the Eight deliver quality performances, and it's nice to see unheralded (to the general public, at least) actors like Walton Goggins get a chance to shine, not to mention old favorites like Bruce Dern and Old Kurt. Seeing Michael Madsen in a movie that's better than DTV schlock is a breath of fresh air. All the characters are colorful and quite engrossing. It is nicely shot and whether or not you are able to see it in 70mm-the images are great, but to be honest if you are only able to see it in digital, it's not that big of a loss-it does have a beautiful look. In addition, the Morricone score is good, good stuff. I am glad he is still making music when he's deep in his octogenarian years. 

It's 3 hours and a lot of it is just on one set, and yet it's never boring and it seemed shorter than its length. It does have choice dialogue and there are plenty of great lines, which should probably not even been said due to the director and yet I wanted to make that clear. There are darkly humorous moments throughout so you will hear your audience laugh. It may be the sort of thing you want to see more than once, and I'll leave it at that.

I am glad I was able to see it in a roadshow version as while I saw revival screenings of The Ten Commandments and How the West Was Won in the past few years, seeing a new film that way (w/ overture and intermission) was pretty neat, along with the souvenir program that everyone got.

Tarantino will always be Tarantino, and some will just never care for what he does or how he acts, or even his style of motion pictures. This movie likely won't change too many minds either way. Yet, if you generally like-let alone love-what he does, you definitely should check this out. If you can see it on film in Super Panavision 70, all the better. The fact that like with all of Quentin's work this isn't the same old same old you get from too safe and mamby-pamby Hollywood, there's a mighty swell reason to give it some shekels.