Well well well…look at me all on top of my game and going to see a Quentin Tarantino movie in the theatres. Its true though. I haven’t seen one in theatres since Kill Bill and that has been a while. I’m going to be honest here and say that while I do appreciate Tarantino’s work, I’m not a hardcore fan. On top of that, The Hateful Eight is a western which is the genre I’m most unfamiliar with.
Let’s check it out!
The Hateful Eight (2015)
Director (& Writer): Quentin Tarantino
Cast: Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Tim Roth, Demian Bichir, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, James Parks
In the dead of a Wyoming winter, a bounty hunter and his prisoner find shelter in a cabin currently inhabited by a collection of nefarious characters.-IMDB
Right from the start, The Hateful Eight grabs us with the scenery of the location he’s picked. Its secluded save for that carriage carrying John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his prisoner that’s worth $10,000, Domergue, a lady that has an incredibly crazed look in her eyes. They don’t intend on stopping since they are running from the blizzard coming right up and they stop for the first person blocking the road, then another. Eventually there is no running away and that’s when they land at Minnie’s Habadashery and have to camp out in the cabin. One lady prisoner, two bounty hunters and a handful of other known men all sit around. They have an issue with race and wars and just about anything. Before we know it, the plot picks up. Talking about the plot, The Hateful Eight is like watching a story unfold throughout six chapters. I think that’s a pretty nifty little thing to do. And well, do I even need to talk about the brilliant score that accompanies this piece. Ennio Morricone is amazing as always.
I’m really not a fan of long movies. It almost always loses me somewhere and for this one, it was the slow-paced extremely Western style. My husband pinpointed that feeling for me since I know nothing about Westerns. I tried so hard to stay away. Chapter 1 had some good build-up and then when we got to mid Chapter 3 and things started happening like everyone was there and they arrived at Minnie’s Habadashery. That is when it caught my attention. If I’m truly honest, it was the additions of Tim Roth’s character, Oswaldo Mobray that pulled me right back in along with the other mysterious characters hanging about. There’s a tension in the air that builds gradually and when the action starts, there is no way to stop it, exactly how you’d expect in a Tarantino movie. However, its also this signature that makes me not enjoy Tarantino so much but appreciate the effort. However, this isn’t a big issue because there was some fun to be had with it all and for what it is, Tarantino tells a great story that really had me thinking (even if I did kind of have my suspicions and they turned out to be correct in the end), it is still rather good.
Tarantino’s action and blood and overly inappropriate use of violence wasn’t even my problem. I mention it once and again: run time. I missed the days when watching a movie didn’t use up half a day sitting there watching a movie unfold. Those movies are great divided in parts at home and I kind of knew I’d feel that way about it. What did surprise me was that I had a harder time focusing on it in the beginning and it really pulled itself together for the last 75% of the movie and it was rather fun. On the terms of this being a Western, my husband mentioned something about the slow beginning really setting up like one but in the end, it was really more like it was mocking Westerns. How true is that statement? I really can’t agree or disagree.
Overall, The Hateful Eight has all the elements to be a really great movie. The story was well-crafted as was the storytelling. The location was nice whether it was in the blizzard or in Minnie’s Habadashery. The music was perfect. The cast was outstanding and I particularly loved Tim Roth, but then I’ve always liked him. Everyone did a fantastic job and once the mysteries and action started, it was a lot of fun. My biggest issue was the run-time being at 3 hours and the slow beginning. If you don’t mind that, The Hateful Eight is a fun movie that will get you thinking and laughing.
Have you see The Hateful Eight? What are your thoughts?
Tranquil Dreams 