Trapped

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2016)

The film opens with wide shots of snowy North American mountain ranges, and I thought that Tarantino might have discovered his sense for landscapes. I felt that he might be paying homage to Sergio Leone, too. But these are just a few opening shots, and for most of the remainder, the movie stays indoors.
The dialog in the coach, on it's way to Minnie's cabin, feels rather slow, especially because it is at the very start of the story.
From the very beginning, these things indicate that Tarantino had a lot of time, a lot of film rolls and total freedom in terms of decision-making. The scene with the door and the nails is hilarious at first, simply BECAUSE it drags on way too long, but when it gets repeated for the third time or so in full length, any editor or playwright or producer would have objected, I guess.
The story in Tarantino's films was always rather simple, but it didn't matter because they were a tour de force of sharp dialog and good acting. Reservoir Dogs, my favorite QT film, even deliberately ignored the story and instead focused on the intense chemistry and the funny statements of the characters, and it worked brilliantly. The dialog in The Hateful Eight is not as exceptional as we might have expected, and since the story is extremely simple and unfolds in one location only, the only thing that keeps us interested is the acting, really. It is mostly well done, even when Madsen seems to be totally trapped in his way of walking and talking, and Roth coming across as an imitation of Waltz at one point. Russel and Jason Leigh as the odd couple stand out and create much of our interest in the plot in the beginning. Some character's development seems unlikely, especially the swift conversion of the more racist ones.
Takeshi Kitano said in an interview that he finds Tarantion's films to be very well produced B-movies, and I think there is a truth to that. Like the movie characters that are stuck in the cabin, Tarantino seems to be a bit stuck with his semi-trashy, comic-like way to tell a story. He explored this in 8 films now. He could start to use landscapes or create characters that have motivations that go beyond a bag full of money, and I really wonder what his power as a filmmaker could do with those other aspects of the medium. But I guess that's not his thing, and he obviously is not reinventing himself. He does add a new facet to it though with a few political statements here and there.
Never mind the violence, which is just a lot of fake blood and bits and parts flying around, but never shocks us with its realness. If you would like to explore what violence looks like outside of the world of a comic book geek, I suggest movies like Gomorrah by Matteo Garrone. The fellatio scene has it's equivalent in the basement scene of Pulp Fiction.
All this might sound harsh, maybe too harsh. I wasn't bored throughout the almost 3 hours running time, but I have to say that I have been watching a lot of slow movies recently, so my patience has been trained. There were a few twists and turns in the second part of the movie, and the end was somewhat interesting, but it also felt a bit weak after a 3 hour buildup. No reason for a 1 star rating, since the acting, the costumes, the sets etc. are too good for that. I give it a 7.