Unpleasant to the max and NOT entertaining in the least

Rating: Null/10 (11 January 2013)

The word that best describes this movie is "unpleasant." I know Tarantino crafted the film to impart the horrible nature of the subject matter. It works in that regard. Still, it's unpleasant from start to finish and in a drawn out and poor fashion.
Part of Tarantino's charm is that his often juvenile sensibilities shine through in all his work no matter the subject matter. His work is usually entertaining and crisp first and foremost. Here, what's delivered is neither. There's his trademark bloody, cartoonish violence but none of it feels rewarding or is even captivating to be honest. The unpleasant message is hammered home time and again but with no charm. I certainly wasn't expecting a feel good film or a Charles Bronson revenge flick but I was expecting to connect with a character or two and was expecting more of a thrill ride. I found nothing of the sort in this film. What I did find is an almost three hour film that feels like five. I guess that's part of the creative decision but he seemed to sacrifice all entertainment value for a chance to drive home his white guy guilt angle. What results is a simplistic and poorly written plot with one dimensional stereotype characters drudging through as unpleasant of a story as possible.
That's a tough way to spend three hours at the cinema.