Ax to Grind

Rating: 4/10 (5 January 2016)

I'm not a big fan of Quentin Tarantino. I feel the best movie he was a large part of is True Romance, a movie he did not direct. Quentin's need to be a complete film maker is his biggest weakness. It is my opinion that if he truly wants to be involved in a film masterpiece he needs to focus on one thing (writing Or directing), and be humble in his role. Tarantino is not humble, and perhaps the freedom he has gained to make his own movies as dictator is admirable, but it doesn't make him a master. His insistence to insert himself into his films is always a mistake, and generally his presence as actor is the worst part of his films. He is not, never was, and never will be Sergio Leone, the film maker he so often tries to emulate.
Enter the Hateful Eight - Visual media that could only be good if it was a 50 minute cartoon, and even then the cast of unlikable characters could doom the viewer to a short hour that they could never get back.
I've always suspected that Tarantino has used his success to freely unload his racist, misogynistic views on a willing audience who accepts his work as art. The Hateful Eight has not changed this belief. This being said, at times people can do the right thing for the wrong reasons, which gets me to the one of the few redeeming quality of this film: this movie displays a host of iconic villains who live by the gun. The Hateful Eight can be seen to explore the mind set of simpletons who rely on violence as a livelihood and weapons as problem solvers. No matter where one stands on guns, this movie asks some interesting questions in this one regard.
But who cares? Not only are all the characters here unredeeming, they are not compelling, interesting, fun, or worth spending any time around. And we spend A Lot of time with them. A Lot of time. Too Much Time. Way Too Much Time. The amount of time spent with these characters exceeds that which would be useful. How much time would be useful to spend with unlikable, uninteresting, unredeeming, violent imbeciles? I'll tell you tomorrow.
The Hateful Eight gets off to an interesting, dynamic beginning where the characters are literally in motion. The location is fun, classic, and helps introduce widely divergent characters into a cramped space where no one can get away from one another. Unfortunately, openings end, and the location of the final 3/4 of this movie symbolizes the stagnant, boring characteristic taken by the vast majority of this film. I'm not ripping this movie because I don't like dialog driven films. Great, witty dialog can make a single location film an incredible experience. That is not what happens here.
Tarantino can't help but insert himself into the film... again, and his presence comes off as flat and uninteresting sequences that would have better been edited out. I'll tell you a solution to getting rid of Tarantino's presence I also don't recommend... more time spent with these characters!
If you want to watch a three hour live action cartoon (that feels like 5) about gun toting morons who can't die quickly enough, The Hateful Eight might be right up your ally. Why did I watch this movie? Because of the makers social relevance, and my occasional enjoyment of his films.
Bad movie: 4 out of 10