Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight is not the most Tarantino of Tarantino’s films; it’s slower paced. The intensity normally associated with his work is presented here as more of a slow burn intended to, little by little, thicken the air which surrounds eight people that are none too short of suspicion against one another, and are not ones to shy from murder. The characters are a varied bunch, as an audience member who has seen Reservoir Dogs may have already assumed.
Four are strangers- men already present on the stage of Minnie’ Haberdashery in Wyoming around the year 1870. Bob (Demiàn Bichir), Oswald Mobray (Tim Roth), General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern) and Joe Gage (Michael Madsen) start as unknown figures to the audience. Major Marquis Warren (Sam L. Jackson), John Ruth (Kurt Russell), Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), and Sheriff Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins) together lead the way to Minnie’s, and it is via their trip that the through line of the film, as well as a major source of conflict, is presented: the struggle between the disgruntled members of a broken confederacy and the prideful champions of the war, the Union men. The conflict between white and black. The issue surrounding the possibility of Domergue having an accomplice waiting to break her free also looms throughout the inn.
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The Hateful Eight is a very long film- three hours and seven minutes. The film doesn’t drag, but it also isn’t one of those movies that is long but doesn’t feel long, a characteristic which, to be sure, is hard to achieve. At the end, as the film meets its resolution, loose ends are tied and the truth is revealed. The ending is neat and tidy.
Overall, it’s a really good film, but The Hateful Eight leaves something to be desired. The first act could’ve been livened a great deal if flashbacks had been included in the backstories of the characters. Without them, the first half falls a little flat. Additionally, though the dialogue is good—very good in some parts— it too could’ve used a second going over to make it tighter and more meaningful. The second half of the film is superior to the first; there is more action, it’s quicker paced, and it’s tighter.
If you’re a Tarantino fan for the sake of his heavily stylized works, violence and thrilling plot lines, you’ll enjoy The Hateful Eight, but I’ll venture to guess it won’t be your favorite Tarantino. If you’re a fan but tend to prefer a slower movie, with the same level of violence, just a bit more spread out and therein less intense, you’ll more than likely enjoy this film more than you have other Tarantino productions. If you’re not a Tarantino fan for the famed violence of his style or the intensity he is so seamlessly able to employ when he needs to, The Hateful Eight won’t be your favorite film, but it also won’t be your least favorite Tarantino picture. And if you’ve yet to experience a Tarantino film, this film will expose you to a heavily stylized form of filmmaking that tends to either deeply entice viewers or turn them off from his work altogether. To you, the green consumer of one of the more popular brands within products of our entertainment industry, I entreat you to keep an open mind and enjoy the film.
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