A reinvention of earlier films

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2015)

To begin, this film (I saw the Road Show edition) was such a unique film in a general sense I first had trouble finding a rhythm or pacing to it. As it progressed I begin to draw parallels in this film to other Tarantino films, especially Reservoir Dogs.
Going in I was expecting something along the lines of Django again with Tarantino's typical fancy for grandiose fight sequences (post Jackie Brown) which can also be found in Kill Bill sword fighting scenes, Inglorious Basterds' movie theater massacre, and Django's shootout. In a manner of speaking he kind of spoiled us with over the top action balanced with a good plot and impeccable dialogue. This was not the case for Hateful 8 however; a gun isn't even shot until about 1.5 hours in and even then, there is no "big shootout" which is a typical trademark of traditional westerns.
This made it difficult for me to watch for a while into it because I couldn't understand the pacing or where it was going-which some may argue is a good thing. The opening act is pretty much only dialogue. It was typical Tarantino banter and wittyness except I found that it seemed more forced than normal and drawn out, even for Tarantino. The dialogue just kept going on and on with extensive relational development between the characters. Once I discovered that I was going to have to sit tight for a while before I could understand the scope of the film I was hooked.
Hateful 8 has a tension build similar to the bar scene from Inglorious Basterds and the entirety of Reservoir Dogs. It is excruciatingly slow and detailed making you hang on the edge of your seat for 20 minutes at a time before anything is resolved. With this in mind, that is how I see it as a reinvention of earlier films: it seems as if he wanted to redo Reservoir Dogs. The majority of the film takes place inside one room and centers around character interaction of finding out who the "bad guy" is. In both cases it's Roth. Some of the characters even stay in the same place for long periods of time such as the General in his chair, Daisy on the ground chained to the Hangman's corpse, and the Joe Gaige at the table. I've also read that it is similar to "The Thing" which I have not seen yet.
As much as I enjoyed Hateful 8 there are notable flaws, in my opinion, of the film. One of the biggest is I feel that Oswaldo and Major Warren (Roth and Jackson respectively) are rehashes of Dr. Schulz (Django) and Jules (Pulp Fiction). Even though the dentist and Oswaldo are played by two different actors with different nationalities, they were so similar in the overall effect they have on the film, mannerisms, and style of humor.
A second is Tarantino's love for over the top gore. The vomiting blood sequence was too much in my opinion. I could have done without that and without watching Tatum's brains get splattered on Leigh.
All in all, I found it a very unique and interesting film definitely worth a watch.