Writer: Quentin Tarantino
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Bounty hunter John Ruth (Russell) is transporting his prisoner Daisy Domergue (Leigh) to the town of Red Rock, where Ruth will collect ten thousand dollars and Daisy will hang. A blizzard forces them to take shelter in a cabin where others have taken refuge from the severe weather. It soon becomes abundantly clear that something ain't right...
In the interests of full disclosure I'll admit that I'm something of a fan of Quentin Tarantino's. Reservoir Dogs is, in my opinion, one of the greatest movies ever made. I've lost count of how many times I've seen it and I can quote entire scenes worth of dialogue. Ask me what I think Madonna's song Like A Virgin is about.
And yet whilst I think The Hateful Eight is good, it's not great. There are things in its nearly three-hour running time (I was part of the non-70mm screening crowd) that don't work for me. The fact that it's nearly three hours is one of those things. The first half - dare I actually say this? - drags a lot more than it ought to. The second half, where the plot really picks up and you're plunged into primo Tarantino territory, is thoroughly entertaining but that first hour is really going to test the patience of some.
And yet, even though the second half is chock-full of QT's signature funny/nasty shenanigans it's sort of a retread of Reservoir Dogs in that it's a bunch of guys in one location trying to work out who isn't who they say they are. Yes, Ruth and fellow traveller Marquis (Jackson) are taken in slightly different directions to Mr White, Mr Pink et al but the echoes of Tarantino's peerless debut are hard to shake.
Maybe it's because I am such a fan of Quentin Tarantino and that I look forward to a new film of his so much that my expectations are always stratospherically high, which is probably going to mean that I can only be disappointed. However, I really did try to reign in my excitement for this one, viewing it with rationality as opposed to being a drooling fanboy.
The thing is, you should still go to see this because a somewhat underpowered film from Mr Tarantino is a whole lot better than the best output of many other directors. The cinematography is stunning and wrings the maximum possible out of the wide-wide-widescreen format. Ennio Morricone's score has all the classic Western ticks and beats. As you'd expect, there are chucklesome one-liners and lengthy speeches delivered by actors having a ball with the material they've been given. And yes, there's startling, OTT violence.
As for the performances, there's not a duff one in sight. Samuel L. Jackson has rarely been better, Kurt Russell is suitably terrific, Walton Goggins and Tim Roth are hilarious....the list goes on. It's clear to see they're enjoying themselves and that enthusiasm for their roles leaps from the screen. It's just a shame that it takes so long for everyone to come together and bounce salty dialogue off each other.
Is it a masterpiece? Well, considering the previous paragraphs, it's obvious that I don't believe it is. However, it's certainly well-crafted and has many inspired moments. A bit of judicious editing wouldn't have gone amiss, that's all.
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