THE HATEFUL EIGHT review by Mark Walters – Tarantino’s latest is great fun, but far from great

THE HATEFUL EIGHT review by Mark Walters – Tarantino’s latest is great fun, but far from great
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I love Westerns, and it seems like Hollywood is slowly but surely warming up to reviving them in recent years. There was a time a few decades back when the Western dominated cinemas, and audiences couldn’t get enough. Quentin Tarantino’s last film, DJANGO UNCHAINED, made the most of paying homage to the genre while going in the non-traditional direction of making a black man the hero of the piece… and it worked quite well, smartly using Jamie Foxx and Christoph Waltz as a pair of unlikely protagonists, and delivering one of the best big screen villain performances ever in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio. That film dealt with the racial tensions of the era, while still delivering an entertaining story with great characters. And as a Western, it was surprisingly accessible to audiences. Quentin’s newest cinematic effort is yet another Western called THE HATEFUL EIGHT, and abandons any sort of traditional storytelling norms for what feels more like a stage play on film. It’s also famously touted as a Roadshow-type production in the vein of classic Hollywood epics, shot in 70mm Panavision film stock and broken up into chapters with title cards. The Roadshow version hit theaters last week, complete with an Overture and Intermission, plus a collectible program for all attendees. This week the film sees a wider release in a normal digital format, minus the aforementioned extras, but still running close to three hours.

The tale opens by showing us a stagecoach thundering through the snowy mountains of Wyoming, with a time frame set after the Civil War. The coach comes up Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a bounty hunter perched on three dead bodies, looking for a ride to Red Rock. He must first be approved by the passenger, John Ruth (Kurt Russell), who is another bounty hunter (also heading to Red Rock) riding with his latest catch, the somewhat crass Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Ruth isn’t too happy at the idea of taking on a passenger, but considering the blizzard that is getting constantly worse, he makes an exception for Warren. The two men realize they’ve met before, and even shared dinner together once, but it still doesn’t make Ruth any less nervous about having a second bounty hunter around Daisy. A few miles later that happen upon another helpless man in the snow, Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), who is supposedly on his way to Red Rock to become the new Sheriff. With the blizzard in full force, the coach aims for Minnie’s Haberdashery to hole up and wait for a break in the storm. They make it, but find the owners are out of town, and the cabin has four strange men in it… which to John Ruth spells more potential trouble, especially as he’s expecting someone to attempt thwarting his plans. With multiple days of a blizzard ahead, these strangers must attempt to get through their stay without incident, and some of them aren’t who they appear to be.

THE HATEFUL EIGHT feels kind of like two films stitched together, in that the first half is a lot of character set up – quite a bit of time in the stagecoach, followed by separate character intros and analysis in the haberdashery. If there’s any true weakness in the film, it’s this half which seems to plod along at times and feel a little self-indulgent. Oddly enough, the stagecoach scenes shine the spotlight on the four main leads of the film: Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Walton Goggins, who all play quite well off each other. Once we arrive at the cabin, the foursome gets separated with two putting the horses away and two getting to know the new folks. This section builds up to a rather disturbing first death, which in the roadshow version was a direct lead in to the intermission. The second half of the film dramatically shifts the tone and becomes an almost theatrical murder mystery. This is where things pick up and the story gets much more interesting, though some might have already mentally checked out at this point. Tarantino attempts to wake the audience up with some gory moments and a few shocking scenes, but the overall presentation just isn’t quite as impressive at what we’re used to from the beloved director. That said, the movie is still very watchable, and as a Western has more than a few redeeming qualities. Many of the actors elevate the material and make it fun to witness, particularly Sam Jackson and Walton Goggins, who both turn in career highlight performances. The biggest problem is the script feels substandard for a Tarantino film, missing a lot of the normally quotable dialogue, and in some cases sporting words that feel derivative or just a little too familiar.

The cast members all do a great job making their characters lovingly despicable, finding the right balance of endearing personality traits and embittered hatred. Everyone is set up in a way so that if they die, you’d almost welcome it. This is a little different from the norm in a Tarantino film, and usually even his nastiest villains are still somewhat likable… not so much here. Kurt Russell as Ruth is a somewhat misogynistic and abusive man who places his needs above everyone else. Samuel L. Jackson as Warren is a dishonest black man doing whatever it takes to survive among his white oppressors. Jennifer Jason Leigh as Daisy is a racist and uncouth woman who shows no respect for authority, even in the face of her own impending doom. Walton Goggins as Mannix is a black-hating soldier living in the shadow of his famous military father. Bruce Dern plays General Smithers, a war veteran who never showed concern for Northern blacks during his run, and let countless men of color die. Tim Roth plays Oswaldo Mobray, a hangman who shows no regard for the people he puts to death. Michael Madsen plays Joe Gage, a quiet cowboy who just wants to be left alone. Demian Bichir plays Bob, a hispanic man claiming to be in charge of the haberdashery in the owner’s absence, but not volunteering a lot of info as to why. There’s also James Parks subtly but brilliantly playing O.B. (the stagecoach driver of John Ruth), a man who seems to always get handed the crappy jobs to do. All of these actors are so good in their roles, it’s easy to forget the lines they’re delivering aren’t all the special. There’s been some supposed Oscar buzz for Jennifer Jason Leigh, but I honestly didn’t find any aspect of her performance to be what I would call Oscar-worthy, and she would have a lot of competition from this year anyway. Perhaps the only cast member that doesn’t knock it out of the park is Channing Tatum, who (thankfully) is only in it briefly but just doesn’t do anything memorable… his character could have been played by anyone, and his casting feels almost like a gimmick.

Perhaps one of the best aspects of the film is Ennio Morricone’s score. The famed composer resurfaced to provide music for this production, though he was only able to orchestrate about 25 minutes of original music, and the rest is comprised of unreleased tracks from Ennio’s score to John Carpenter’s THE THING (which is no coincidence, as this film has a lot of parallels to that one), a Morricone track from THE EXORCIST II, and a few songs from artists like The White Stripes and Roy Orbison. It’s one of the better soundtracks of the year, though probably not what most Tarantino fans would consider a classic. The old days of all-song soundtracks for Tarantino movies (like RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION) are gone.

In the end, THE HATEFUL EIGHT may be a highly watchable and fairly entertaining movie, but as a Quentin Tarantino production it just doesn’t feel like everything you’d want it to be, especially when ranked with his previous efforts. And at 2 hours and 47 minutes (at least that’s the DCP version running time), it definitely overstays its welcome a bit, especially with an ending that’s anything but upbeat. There’s no reason why Quentin couldn’t have shaved 30 to 40 minutes off the running time to make a more cohesive and accessible movie – and that’s coming from someone who loves the 3-hour classic ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST. There’s also some not so subtle messages about racism that some might find a bit preachy, though to me it just seemed like a realistic depiction of the struggles in that era. It could be considered somewhat amusing to feel a script pushing elements of white guilt while at the same time using the “N” word so casually, then again this is nothing new for Quentin. His recent conflicts with police officer protests will certainly draw heavy criticism toward these aspects of the film. This is likely to be one of the most divisive productions to come from the famed director, and advance reviews have already shown that to be true. Even some of the most hardcore Tarantino fans have walked away hating it, though as we know film is subjective, and one person’s disappointment could be another’s masterpiece. Judge for yourself when it hits theaters in wide release this weekend… just make sure you pee first.

THE HATEFUL EIGHT debuts in 70mm in select theater across the country on December 25, and opens nationwide January 1, 2016.

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About the Author

Born and raised in Dallas, Mark has been a movie critic since 1994, with reviews featured in print, radio and National TV. In 2001 he started the Entertainment section of the Herorealm website, where he contributed film reviews and celebrity interviews until 2004. After three years of service there, he started Bigfanboy.com, which has become one of the Dallas film community's leading information websites. Bigfanboy hosts several movie screenings in the Texas area, and works closely with film and TV studios and promotional partners to host exciting events and contests. The site also features a variety of rare celebrity and filmmaker interviews, and Bigfanboy.com regularly covers the film festival circuit as well. In addition to Hollywood reporting, Mark has worked for many years as an advertising and sci-fi/comic book artist. Clients have included Lucasfilm Ltd., Topps Trading Cards, The Dallas Mavericks and The Dallas Stars. From 2002 until 2015 he managed the Dallas Comic Con, Sci-Fi Expo and Fan Days events in the DFW area. He currently catalogs rare comic books and movie memorabilia for Heritage Auctions, and runs the Dallas Comic Show conventions, but remains an avid moviegoer and cinema buff.