Nothing New

Rating: 5/10 (11 January 2016)

After viewing the trailers, hearing about the 70MM format, the roadshow version, the overture, the police boycott, and whatever other irritating marketing gimmicks were thrown around for the last few months, I finally was able to sit down with my coke and popcorn to watch THE HATEFUL EIGHT . . . and boy oh boy, what a disappointment it was. Nothing spectacular, but not nearly as terrible as QT's worst outing to date, DEATH PROOF, a film that I found to be borderline unwatchable, to say the least. However, I did enjoy this movie a bit more than I did DJANGO UNCHAINED, another QT flick that I think to be vastly overrated and self indulgent, so I guess that's not much of a compliment really. Oh well.
Now to sum up its plot (or lack thereof), THE HATEFUL EIGHT is about a group of strangers who get stuck in a cabin in the middle of nowhere during a ferocious blizzard. The tension (or lack thereof) builds up before a brutal showdown (or lack thereof) takes place.
Yeah, I know, sounds a lot like Reservoir Dogs.
What makes this film uninspired, in my opinion, is the fact that it's really just a regurgitation of everything QT has done in the past, except here it's not nearly as fun or exciting. He's been recycling the same themes, plot points, smartass characters, exaggerated dialogue, OTT gore, and basic story premises for the last fifteen years now. Note to Tarantino: please come up with something new. You have enough money to take the next few years off so you can just sit back and think of something fresh and riveting to offer us the next time around. I highly recommend you do just that.
With all that being said, I'll now proceed with the pros and cons of THE HATEFUL EIGHT.
SPOILERS AHEAD. READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION.
First, the pros . . . Ennio Morricone's score is quite possibly the best thing about this movie. The cinematography is also well done (for the record, this film being shot on 70MM was pointless and added nothing to the movie). The opening sequence sets the mood quite well, what with the dark, ominous music assisting a pull-back shot of Jesus Christ up on a Cross in the middle of the vast Wyoming wilderness. The acting is pretty good overall, although there was some obvious overacting from Kurt Russell and Tim Roth, in particular.
. . . . and that's it for the pros.
Now for the cons . . . the film is too long. Waaaay toooo looooong. Like other reviewers have already said, the story presented here could've been told better and more effectively in under two hours. Instead, Tarantino treats us to nearly an hour and a half of useless dialog before we even get to the damn cabin, that while is supposed to build the characters and create tension, really just drags and has no purpose whatsoever. Moreover, much of the dialog repeated itself far too often. For instance, whenever ANYONE mentions "the Lincoln letter". We get it, a black guy has a letter from Abraham Lincoln. Can we move on now? This also applies to some of the actions that take place. We get treated to about five different scenes of characters opening and closing a door, nailing one piece of wood into the door, no, two pieces of wood into the door . . . you get the point.
In addition to its unnecessarily long running time and annoying dialog, we get a storyline and group of characters that are too basic and underdeveloped to even care about. We never really learn much about ANY OF THEM, other than they fought for either the North or the South. Samuel L. Jackson has a monologue about raping and killing the Confederate General's son that is both tasteless and boring (and rather contrived as it comes out of NOWHERE), the astronomical levels of gore in the final act was predictable and amateurish, and in the end, NOTHING was resolved. But then again, not much really happened to begin with. Oh, and the political "subtext" in this movie was just downright insulting. PLEASE stay out of politics, Tarantino.
I give this movie five stars for the score, cinematography, and the acting. The script and direction leaves much to be desired. Please get a grip, QT. Before it's too late.