Strong but self indulgent

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2017)

Tarantino has always seemed like a good B-movie director. He learned from them and emulates them. There are better ones, though, who color within the lines. Granted, he has some flair in his dialogue (and scenarios) as a writer, but in the world of linear storytelling, it gets to be cumbersome and self-indulgent. But my view has always been in the vast minority.
Somewhere along the line, he was elevated to deity and I don't understand it. And it has created an egomaniac. That is shown from the credits that announce that this is "The 8th Film by Quentin Tarantino". O-kay?
I fully enjoyed Django Unchained as it seemed more focused on the justified murderous aspirations of its lead. The self-serving acting pauses were in line with the story-line. Same with Jackie Brown, which came from material not written directly by Tarantino.
Hateful Eight was not serving the audience, though. The first hour was just two very bloated scenes of men who wanted to get on the stagecoach. And that dumb Lincoln letter. Very forgettable.
The next hour was supposedly a thriller on finding out who is the bad guy. Very hyper-extended but done well.
The third hour was how the bad guys were going to take over the cabin. We know what was going to happen. It was just a matter of when. Just more colorful characters saying nothing.
And the characters were not remarkable, except for Jennifer Jason Leigh. There was not enough in the writing to credit Tarantino for that, either. It was her. But the rest? Just recycled hard-nosed cowboys we've seen before, although done a bit better than the rest. Beating up on Leigh had no real coherence, just illogical Tarantino blood-letting.
It could have all been done in 100 minutes. He apparently drew from John Carpenter's The Thing, a vastly superior film. Tarantino should have paid more attention to that.
And I didn't see the great publicity about it being shot in Ultra Panavision 70. Who cares? There was not enough to warrant any of that. It was essentially in one room. The exterior stuff was okay, but nothing spectacular.