Some good, some bad & some ugly

Rating: 4/10 (9 January 2016)

The H8ful Eight starts off with some eerily placid shots of a snow covered landscape. The camera slowly pans over a wooden crucifix stuck in the ground accompanied by a very cool score by Ennio Morricone; full of impending dread, which made me grin with anticipation of the suspense to come.
I'm thinking the artfully tense opener of Inglorious Basterds and the violence foreshadowing in Django Unchained.
Unfortunately most of what follows is slow, uninspired and underwritten. There isn't an ounce of suspense in this flick and therefore it becomes boring to watch and is even quite irritating in parts. The sounds of a stagecoach driver whipping and yelling at his horses and the persistent howling winds could have provided extra stress to ratchet up a tense atmosphere but here it just becomes an annoyance without any semblance of drama to build on. Same goes for the events early on in Minnie's menagerie as the guests are getting themselves acquainted. It's all a bit tedious. The fireside scene between Bruce Dern and Walton Goggins felt unusually dull given that these are good actors reciting a Tarantino script. But without context or suspense this kind of historical dialogue is uninteresting. It's no Jules & Vincent talking about burgers.
A sudden narration by QT himself about halfway in is just weirdly jarring and amateurish. It feels like a lazy way of telling a story. Cheap tricks were never used in Pulp Fiction which instead favoured to respect an audience's intelligence and allow them to figure out the chronology of a scene all by themselves. Perhaps the idea of skipping back and forth in time within the confines of a single room without stabilisers seemed either a stretch too far on the viewers intellect or lack of ability on the storytellers part. Tarantino is far too smart a writer and way too much of a film buff to disrespect his audience like that so perhaps the script leak early on had something to do with lack of refinement, who knows. Recent press interviews with the director suggest this may have been the case.
The over use of the Word 'nigger' once again is becoming childish, not to mention the splatter. But I guess these are now Tarantino hallmarks whether you love it or hate it. And a strange monologue by Sam Jackson's Major Warren in which he recounts a tale of racism and "retribution" seemed utterly repugnant when it was probably supposed to feel cathartic. It seemed a lot like Tarantino's awkward way of saying I love black people and all you racists can suck this guys big black d#@k. It's not racial politics it's just Quentin declaring his love for the black man. Quite sweet really when you think about it. I do love the guy actually, He certainly means well which is why I will always watch his films.
Anyway, there is still some fun to be had here what with the stellar cast and quirky dialogue. Samuel L Jackson is very amusing to watch. Tim Roth is cool with a beard and does a nice job too, he's a good actor. But it is Jennifer Jason Leigh that lifts this film, she is quite a menacing presence. Her character has a true evil streak and definitely a lot more could have been made of her part. I would have enjoyed to see her calculatingly slaughter the entire Hateful bunch single handedly.
Other positives include a beautiful stagecoach trundling along. People eating a hearty stew with big wooden spoons, yum. A funny Mexican accent and a deliriously bloody ending.
Go see it if you like QT's films. You probably already have.