‘The Hateful Eight’ Entertains But Fails to Impress

Whenever you sit down for a Tarantino romp, it’s impossible to anticipate what you’re in for. Time and time again, the natural-born storyteller manages to masterfully weave absorbing storylines, fascinating dialogue and sharp character arcs with ease. His eighth feature, The Hateful Eight (clever, right?) is his latest effort and is a combination of grindhouse pulp and spaghetti westerns. It was shot using antique lenses and projected in wide-screen 70mm Panavision at select theatres. So on December 25, I journeyed uptown in Manhattan to see if Tarantino’s latest flick managed to meet all of my dizzying expectations.

The movie is a tale of vengeance (typical Tarantino) and double-crossing (again, typical) set at a desolate bar some time after the Civil War. Samuel L. Jackson plays a bounty hunter called Marquis Warren who is caught in a blizzard and hitches a ride in a stage-coach with another hunter; John “The Hangman” Ruth (played by Kurt Russell) and his prisoner Daisy (Jennifer Jason Leigh). The story kicks off when the protagonists take shelter in a popular stopping point for weary travellers called “Minnie’s Haberdashery,” which is filled with a collective of bounty hunters, outlaws and a new sheriff. For what feels like a long while, all they do is sit around, drinking coffee and discussing the minutia of what brought them there.

Tarantino does a fantastic job in setting a scene. Every second that passes only works to build the tension and it feels like violence can erupt at any moment. With that said, the ‘edge-of-your-seat’ element doesn’t stem from the obvious threat of violence but more so from how the characters talk to one another, how each person’s body language tells the viewer more than the words uttered. This is unusual for Tarantino who has become known for his dynamic character monologues. The ones where people will begin telling a story and you have absolutely no idea where it’s heading until, all of a sudden, BAM! The final sentence is revealed and it effervesces in your mind, giving you a sense of understanding unique to Tarantino movies (think: the diner scene in Pulp Fiction or when Samuel L Jackson is talking to Robert De Niro about guns in Jackie Brown.) The Hateful Eight is missing these dynamic moments.

The Hateful Eight is incredibly slow-moving. Compare it to Kill Bill Vol. 1 for example, where the movie opens with a stylized yet beaten Uma Thurman, heaving for air until she gets a bullet to the head. Within seconds you’re captured, enamored, curious, quizzical, all at once. But with this venture, Tarantino rests on character dialogue for a little too long, saving the first bullet for around the 100-minute mark, which is then followed by a short (but much needed) intermission.

The death toll climbs quickly when viewers have returned to their seats, as Tarantino himself narrates the events that transpired in the first half of the movie and introduces the arc for the following hour and a half. Some characters shine more than others, as to be expected, with Daisy being the overall standout. Through the course of three hours, this woman takes numerous beatings which was heavily criticized in reviews by those that didn’t fully understand that the reason for this was because she was treated as ‘one of the guys’ in a time where women weren’t considered to be equal at all. The roles of gender dynamics aren’t the focal point of this movie though, as it acts more so as a western that focuses on racial politics. Yes characters say the N-word, but no, it doesn’t carry the same effect and importance as it did in Django Unchained. With that said, the inclusion of racial politics is what separates this movie from the B-grade swill that other comparable grindhouse romps would achieve.

Last year, Tarantino announced that he would consider retiring after completing 10 films, and in light of this self-imposed retirement, it pains me to hope that this isn’t true as The Hateful Eight is a bit of a half wasted effort. I didn’t hate it, but it also didn’t manage to satisfy expectations. The music is phenomenal (as it always is), the photography is breathtakingly stylized, but it fails to impress on the three main precepts that Tarantino movies follow to critical success:

1) The characters weren’t all equally dynamic, with some outshining others

2) The gore felt a little forced and misplaced in some scenes

3) The stellar monologue (delivered by Samuel L. Jackson) failed to hit the mark for me

There’s a very strong possibility that the reason why I didn’t LOVE The Hateful Eight was because I had such high expectations for it. Or maybe it was because I had to trek up miles of repetitive streets and avenues on Christmas Day, only to be met with lackluster monologues. Or maybe it was because the concession stand ran out of popcorn and thus I’m taking it out on Tarantino’s latest venture. Let’s just say it’s a combination of all three.

Despite my luke-warm feelings, you should definitely take the time to watch The Hateful Eight because it’s not a movie that follows a set formula and you’ll really need to form your own opinion about it. You’ll either love it or want to give it an “elbow to the face.” Once you’ve seen the film, you’ll understand that reference.

Have you seen The Hateful Eight? What did you think of it?