Gratuitous violence and gratuitous overlength

Rating: 3/10 (12 January 2016)

What's the matter with Tarantino? There's no denying the man's talent, but in his latest film he seems to have lost control, or maybe he just doesn't know when to quit. This film has been referred to as a "return", of sorts, to his debut feature "Reservoir Dogs", but whereas "Dogs" was tightly and economically constructed, with nary a wasted moment, "The Hateful Eight" is overblown and ridiculously overlong; it should have been half as long. And Tarantino seems to revel so much in violence, ugliness, nihilism and misanthropy (not to mention misogyny) that the film leaves you with a "bleccch" feeling. Even the mystery turns out not to matter much, since everyone is guilty anyway! Or maybe we are supposed to take this as a very black, over-the-top comedy. But the dialogue is rarely as witty or as memorable as expected, and when the few laughs do come, the audience's senses are pretty much numbed already. The cinematography is excellent and the acting is super, but the film is little more than an exercise in killing off characters for shock value only. * out of 4.