Absurdly Violent with Fantastic Over-the-Top Performances

Rating: 8/10 (4 December 2016)

During production on THE HATEFUL EIGHT, Quentin Tarantino announced plans to retire after he's completed ten films. That is probably the saddest cinematic news I've heard, especially since this marks his eighth film (he counts KILL BILL as one, thankfully) and it means he may only have two more left. Tarantino movies are an event for me. I get more excited for the release of one of his films than any other director or franchise out there. For the first time ever, I was even able to partake in a film's special event coinciding with its release. Roadshows and limited releases generally don't happen too close to my town (unless I feel like driving two hours to Orlando) so when I found out the roadshow cut of THE HATEFUL EIGHT would be playing relatively close, meaning only one hour away, I was ecstatic. I drove out to that theater just late enough to miss the showing I'd aimed for and gladly sat in my car for three hours in the parking lot of that theater (I'd recently been by a bookstore so I had some reading material to keep me sane) until the next showing because it was a Tarantino film. It was worth it. I got the souvenir program issued with the showing, got to enjoy the full experience with the overture, intermission, and additional footage, and I was able to mingle with fellow Tarantino enthusiasts who were just as thrilled to be there. It was a fantastic time.
That being said, how was the movie? It was great but it wasn't one of his top tier films; it fails to reach the levels of PULP FICTION, INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, or DJANGO UNCHAINED. It has a few pacing issues. Tarantino and cinematographer Robert Richardson were so proud of the gorgeous western landscape footage, covered in snow and shot in beautiful 70mm, that we get long shots of just the landscape at times to let us soak it all in. The story is also a bit thin so there's a lot of padding in the form of long scenes included just to add more flavor to the proceedings, like the characters putting out a guideline between the haberdashery and the outhouse at the onset of the blizzard. We sit on that scene for what feels like an unnecessary amount of time but I don't hate it because it just reinforces the old west atmosphere with a reminder of how rough and inhospitable life could be. None of that matters to me though because it's part of the experience in his films. He's a cinema nut and he loves to have fun with his work; no one's going to tell him what to do or what not to do. He has a vision in mind and he intends on delivering that vision to the audience to share in it with him. It's exactly why people like me drive to a theater farther away, so we can get that full experience when opportune.
My quibbles with THE HATEFUL EIGHT are all minor and they're drowned out by pretty much everything else in the film. It's a Tarantino film and you get everything you'd hope and expect to find. Questionable characters. Sharp, often crude or unsettling, dialogue. Larger than life performances. And those strange bombastic genre touches he loves to toss in. The cast is phenomenal and loaded with familiar Tarantino collaborators, with some new ones tossed in. No one really steals the show because everyone is bringing their absolute best and having fun, but if I had to point out the highlights it'd probably be Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Walton Goggins. And Demián Bechir as Bob the Mexican. He almost borders on caricature but he steals scenes with his bizarre performance. Honestly, the only person who didn't outright blow me away was Michael Madsen and that's because he was sort of just doing his usual: narrowed eyes, few words, and an obvious threat despite the fact the movie is supposed to be a bit of a mystery as to who can be trusted and who can't. He stands out as a hidden enemy the moment you meet him on screen but it doesn't matter much because no one in this movie can be trusted. Every character trapped in Minnie's Haberdashery has darkness in their past and a real mean streak. The fun is in learning about each of them and watching them interact with each other as the time rolls on and we approach the inevitable breaking point for this tense standoff. This is why THE HATEFUL EIGHT, despite not being Tarantino's strongest film, is almost mesmerizing for me. You sit me down in front of it and I'm not moving until it's over. Tarantino fans will certainly find something to love in THE HATEFUL EIGHT but others might be put off by the pacing, the racial undertones (it's set soon after the end of the Civil War), and the mounds of Tarantino dialogue filling it out before the action explodes. Frankly, I don't care. I'm just excited we get at least two more and remain hopeful he'll rescind his decision to retire so we get Tarantino films for years to come.