The Hateful Eight (2015)
Not enough to hate, not enough to love.
Presentation:
A shady bunch of outlaws and gunslingers take shelter in a cabin during a snowstorm, what could go wrong? A western, a whodunit and a claustrophobic inescapable cabin/train setting sounds like it’d be a formula for success. Were it made by any other director it would, but it’s quite hard to divorce this film from the director when the style is so distinct. Tarantino gives us a suspenseful popcorn flick that has all the pieces of a great film on paper, but still underwhelms compared to his others. It’s just not as particularly memorable when other films could encapsulate this entire film in one act. The super Panavision aspect ratio is breathtakingly wide, but if unless you watch at a special theatre, it’s just so-so on a computer monitor.
Conclusion:
Everything you’d expect from a Tarantino film. Witty dialogue, Samuel L. Jackson’s charisma, suspense, bloody catharsis, but there’s not enough intrigue or turns in the story, which ultimately makes this a pretty straightforward film. Normally Tarantino films are a complex roller coasters, but here it’s one of those drop tower rides with a single exciting drop. In some ways the lore and context behind the film is more interesting than the film itself.
Recommendations
The collapse of western civilization starts with a face mask.