A Slow Burn That Almost Pays Off

Rating: 7/10 (10 January 2016)

I've always been a big Tarantino fan. Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill Vol. I & II, Inglorious Basterds, and Django Unchained are some of my favorite films of all-time. So needless to say, I was pretty excited for his latest effort, The Hateful Eight. And ... it was pretty good. Not great, but definitely good. The problem with any great film director such as Tarantino is expectations. Coming off of Django which, at least in my opinion is one of the single greatest westerns ever made, hardcore QT fans have been frothing at the mouth with anticipation of another great western. So, to say it's not as good as Django isn't exactly a criticism, but that also doesn't mean it's not a disappointment. TH8 opens with a stage coach approaching a man standing in its path as the sky rains an icy white hell upon them. The man is Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), and there's a pile of three bodies behind him. The man in the stage coach is John Ruth, a.k.a. the Hangman (Kurt Russell). Both men are bounty hunters. Warren prefers the tried and true method of opting to bring his bounties in deceased. Ruth, as we later learn, brings his bounties in alive because "hangmen gotta earn a living too." Ruth is headed to Red Rock, Wyoming to unload his bounty, an odd woman wanted for murder (played to perfection by Jennifer Jason Leigh). The Major lost his horse and needs a ride, and Ruth reluctantly agrees. They decide to wait out the storm at an almost mystically convenient haven along the way, Minnie's Haberdashery. Turns out another stage rolled in ahead of them, and this is where we meet the rest of the Hateful. The second act is the slow burn portion of the film I referred to in my headline. We meet five new men, whose names at this point are inconsequential. What is consequential is who they are played by: Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Walton Goggins, Bruce Dern and Demian Bichir. Bichir's character is a Mexican supposedly looking after the place for Minnie while she and her partner are up north. Dern's a cranky, racist retired general who spends his screen time planted in an armchair by the fireplace. Roth is the hangman, also on his way to Red Rock. Goggins is the incoming Sheriff of Red Rock, waylaid with the rest of our subjects. Madsen is perfectly cast as the quiet, loner cowboy who keeps to himself in the corner. From the start, Ruth and Warren are suspicious of the others. Ruth is convinced that one or all of them are out to rescue or perhaps just steal his bounty. Meanwhile Warren, long acquainted with Minnie's, is picking up signs that something ain't right about the men or their stories. What ensues is a very Tarantino-like bloodbath, with amusing and relatively entertaining results. But that's about it. My own sense of "disappointment" in this movie is that the script lacks the usual sizzle of a QT film. His finest qualities as a writer are ironically what end up diminishing TH8. He's always had a way with words, a way of explaining things so literally that perhaps we see it in a way we haven't before. But here, there are moments where it seems repetitive (for example, the ongoing bit about keeping the cabin's door closed). For all his explanatory exploits, TH8 often feels like it's over-explaining things to us. The film also has a small handful of the ever-rare Tarantino examples of me as the viewer saying to myself, "I'm not sure that's what that character would say there, or how they would say it." There's also a sense of nihilism here. I did not get a strong sense that the events unfolding before me on the screen really mattered. This is a far cry from the very clear sense of good and evil and purpose that QT delivered in Django Unchained. TH8 essentially plops eight ruffians into a cabin in the middle of a blizzard and says have at it. We think we're supposed to root for Ruth and Warren, but we're not sure. So when the payoff happens, it's less satisfying absent the necessary buildup we need to develop an attachment to these characters. That said, the film is gorgeously shot (in "glorious 70mm" as the trailer brags). The vast setting of the Wyoming mountains in the middle of a blizzard, and the cramped cabin in the middle of it combine for a strange but effective mix of isolation and claustrophobia. The score is once again produced by legend Ennio Morricone (of the infamous Eastwood/Leone spaghetti western trilogy), who previously collaborated with Tarantino on Inglorious Basterds. The results are fantastic. The acting is very good, especially by Goggins and JJL. For actors like Russell, Madsen, and Jackson, these are just more tough guy roles they're spent virtually their entire careers playing. But somebody had to play them, and they did a pretty good job doing it, especially Jackson. I should warn that once the violence starts, it never really stops, but it's nothing Tarantino fans haven't seen before. I actually expected it to be more violent than it was based on reviews I'd read. But make no mistake; it's violent. If you haven't liked other QT films, you probably won't like this one either. But, if you're a fan, I absolutely recommend that you see it. Just try to temper your expectations.