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Quentin Tarantino is an amazing filmmaker and (as it happens) a big time film geek. Over the years he has thrilled the masses while letting the movie enthusiasts know he is one of them. All of his projects feature super cool dialogue while letting on that he is a fanboy of all things cinema. In his latest flick THE HATEFUL EIGHT, Quentin proves that he is both a fan of the Western but also a fan of the old roadshow style of motion picture.
For those who do not know the concept of a roadshow picture, it was the kind of film that hasn’t been around much in the latter part of box office distribution. It was the kind of film that would only play one city at a time. Each seat was assigned and there would be no previews before the main feature. Prior to the movie starting, the screen would be curtained off. The curtain would raise and there would be an overture of the music of the film you were about to see… then the first half would be shown. After that part of the film, the audience would get an intermission. The second half would then be shown. It made going to the movies an event, like going to a musical play.
THE HATEFUL EIGHT opens with an overture with the major musical theme. It is a nice touch but most of the audience will not know how to take it. Then the main title states that the film is in “Cinerama.” There are only a scant few cinemas that still project in the super wide, fish eye style of Cinerama. Again, it feels more like an inside joke between the writer/director and the audience. The feature finally opens in the cold, snowy Wyoming… well, away from civilization, and right after the Civil War. Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson) is a bounty hunter with some corpses. He is known for bringing his men back dead, but for now he’s caught in the snow without transportation.
A stagecoach comes by containing another bounty hunter named John Ruth (Kurt Russell), who has his own bounty on board named Daisy (Jennifer Jason Lee). She is very much alive and abused by John, and accused of some serious crimes. Against his better judgment, John agrees to take both Marquis and his flesh cargo on board. They also pick-up another stranded traveler named Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) as a fierce storm nips at their tail. Eventually they make it to an outpost just as the storm rages. There are some people already in the room, including Southern General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern), self proclaimed hangman Oswald Mobery (Tim Roth), rancher cowboy Joe Gage (Michael Madsen), and Senor Bob (Demian Bichir). As the men settle in to the giant room, tensions begins to mount in an uneasy stalemate.
Eventually, someone is killed and the film stops for the intermission. The overture and intermission will only be found on the 70mm roadshow version of the production. Once the action resumes, an act more nefarious comes to light, and tensions rise to a dangerous level. Everyone knows something is amiss and each are looking at the other for a clue of criminality. There will be some in the audience who think that the second half of THE HATEFUL EIGHT is going to be filled with more talking and finger pointing. They will be wrong. After the intermission, the film becomes a blood bath culminating to a flashback explanation of what happened before the travelers got to the lodge. This part of the film saves a lengthy first half which could have been cut down in a film that easily could have been shown without the intermission.
The first half of THE HATEFUL EIGHT drags along to the point that the intermission might have some considering just leaving. The second half is a bloodbath to a hideous degree. If there were no break (there actually isn’t a break in the digital wide release version) and the first half had been trimmed down, it would have been a more effective feature. But Quentin gets the most from his cast despite the length. Never has Kurt Russell come across as such a mean SOB. He is abusive to Daisy to an unsettling degree. Time and time again he hits her in the mouth, behavior that churns the acid in the audience’s stomach. Jennifer Jason Lee does not say much but uses her eyes to convey all the emotion of her character. When she finally lets go in the second half of the feature, it curdles the blood down to the toes. This is a performance that should put the actress back in the short list for major motion pictures. She has spent a good part of her career doing small, independent features.
Quentin makes the most of all his talents but the film just feels like it is trying too hard. He is trying to make the perfect Western, and that has already been done. This final product feels like it is style over substance. The best of the genre is about stoic men who are forced into making a tough choice. This is more about cool shots with people shooting. In the end, THE HATEFUL EIGHT is a good movie but not a great motion picture. It has many elements to make it amazing but falters in the final product. Tarantino never takes into consideration that saying of “Brevity is the soul of wit” and stretches his cinematic canvas to an uncomfortable degree.
