The Good, The Bad and The H8ful

Rating: 7/10 (11 June 2016)

The aptly names The Hateful Eight marks the 8th film of director Quentin Tarantino. Tarantino is one of few directors who can be seen to do no wrong, but with this comes a very very high standard to which people expect of the auteur. The Hateful Eight is a good film but to me was rather disappointing when compared to the standards expected due to Tarantion's past works.
The aim to create an old western aesthetic is perfectly constructed, from the aspect ratio to the score composed by the great Ennio Morricone, Tarantio goes all out and succeeds in his efforts to set this scene. Minne's Haberdashery is the setting to which the bulk of this film takes place, almost like a play.To me personally this film reminds me of Of Mice and Men and thus has succeeded in its old western style setting.
Tarantino is also renowned for his characters and rather conversational dialogue. With the majority of this film being set in Minnie's Haberdashery the conversational dialogue and monologues are very much present in this feature. However the characters are a bit too underdeveloped for my liking. As i've said Taranito is known for his compelling and memorable characters, so I was disappointed to find that over the course of the films 161 minute run time, that we still knew very little bout many of the characters. Instead of character development the film opts to address the issue of racism in the old west as well as a who-dun-it? mystery plot point. These are handled by Tarintio as expected and make for an engaging film, but the lack of insight into the characters feels like the missing piece to this cinematic puzzle.
The ensemble cast is great and under Quentin's script and direction make this film as good as it is. Samuel L. Jackson reminds us that he is one of the best actors around yet to have an Oscar, and can play more than just a supporting role as he has become known for. Jennifer Jason Leigh actually received award nominations for her role but ultimately wasn't given much to show off why she was nominated and feels underused. But overall as a collective unit the cast does a fantastic job.
The second half of this film is far better than the first. The film starts off slow, introducing characters and the plot. This isn't a particularly bad thing aside from the fact it takes the better part of 90 minutes to do so. The second half however is when the film becomes a Tarantino movie. The monologues, the over the top violence, the shocking sudden deaths of key characters etc. All the Tarintino conventions come out in the films second half. The film is one that builds and you just have to sit tight until the sh*t hits the fan.
Overall the Hateful Eight is a good film, but is fairly disappointing by Quentin Tarrintios standards. The acting, dialogue and authentic are all great but the extremely slow pace of the start and the lack of depth and development of many of the characters leave me unsatisfied, like missing pieces of a puzzle. The picture may look great but there are still something stopping me from achieving satisfaction from this film. Hopefully Tarantio's 9th film will restore the balance.