Repetitive instead of provocative

Rating: 5/10 (24 January 2016)

Quentin Tarantino has made so many great films that it's hard to accept he can make a weak one. Tarantino, like Hitchcock, has become one of those mythical directors who will be admired for anything they do. The standards by which their work is judged, are different form those of other, more ordinary directors.
The truth is, 'The Hateful Eight' is just not as good as most of his other films. It's too long, there's not enough suspense, there's too much of Tarantino's trademark gory violence, and it just lacks the magic touch that make his other films stand out.
The story is rather straightforward. Eight different tough guys are locked up in a hut during a blizzard. They distrust each other and end up shooting and killing. The characters are predictable, the shootouts made me yawn and the snappy dialogue is missing. There is only one surprising moment, with a subsequent flashback to explain it, but the buildup is just so slow and boring that this temporary source of excitement doesn't compensate for the tedious and uninteresting chapters preceding it.
After eight films, we know that Tarantino can get away with anything. He doesn't have to show it one more time. The splattering brains, the sadistic violence, the abundant use of the word n****r: we've seen it all before. And now, it's boring instead of daring, repetitive instead of provocative.