Tarantino Needs to Learn that "Less is More"

Rating: 3/10 (12 January 2016)

I went into "The Hateful Eight" fairly blind, having made it a point to not want to let the reviews or my perception of past Tarantino movies spoil the film for me. It started out reasonably strong, but ended poorly.
My big beef with basically all Tarantino movies post-"Jackie Brown" is that he goes so over the top with the blood and gore and foolishness that it's just not quality cinema. Yes, "Eight" has its moments that are interesting. And yes, the plot is relatively intriguing. But Tarantino's style has gone so far overboard in recent years that it's as if he doesn't respect the audience's intelligence. The pattern that started with "Kill Bill" and continued on in "Inglorious Basterds" and "Django Unchained" carries on here, with gratuitous blood and violence. Yes, that's to be expected from a Tarantino flick (or a Coen Brothers movie, for that matter). But the problem is that whereas the early Tarantino knew how to balance shock with a great story and great dialogue, "Eight" relies far too much on its more grotesque elements.
And the thing is that that's sad, because this movie, like all the other post-"Jackie" Tarantino movies, had great potential to be far better than it is. Unfortunately Tarantino just continues to want to make movies for adolescent boys infatuated with violence than he does for adults who care about good entertainment. A different writer or film maker could take this film and remake it into something amazing just by cleaning it up a bit and offering it in a more serious vibe. The film had the potential to be the next "Unforgiven". But we don't get that with this movie. We get another "Tarantino the asinine juvenile with too much fame and notoriety" movie. And that deserves no better than 3/10 stars.