The Hateful Eight
Go! Le grand enfant terrible, refined and polished.
Long, bloody, one-room standoff.
Reservoir Dogs. Pulp Fiction. Jackie Brown. Kill Bill (Parts I & II). Death Proof. Inglorious Basterds. Django Unchained. Now, The Hateful Eight becomes the 8th film (released on 8th January) from the fast-talking, gesticulating, fizzing, ball-of-perpetual-energy whose very name suggests that he is a character taken straight from one of his own, outlandish films: Quentin Tarantino.
Following Django (2012) – his magnificent, bounty-hunting slave-superhero classic – QT saddles up for his second Western on the trot. This time, set in 1870s Wyoming, (neatly, some years after the American Civil war, which led to the abolition of the slavery at the root of Django) it (like Django) includes one black and one white bounty hunter - (Hateful 1) the cool, calm ex- Union Major, Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction) and (2) the belligerent, brutish John Ruth (Kurt Russell, Death Proof). The latter has captured (3) “Wanted Dead or Alive” crook, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding) and is taking her to frontier town, Red Rock, where she will face the noose and he will get a $10,000 reward (apparently a pocket-book-bursting $180,000 in today’s money).
Following Django (2012) – his magnificent, bounty-hunting slave-superhero classic – QT saddles up for his second Western on the trot. This time, set in 1870s Wyoming, (neatly, some years after the American Civil war, which led to the abolition of the slavery at the root of Django) it (like Django) includes one black and one white bounty hunter - (Hateful 1) the cool, calm ex- Union Major, Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson, Pulp Fiction) and (2) the belligerent, brutish John Ruth (Kurt Russell, Death Proof). The latter has captured (3) “Wanted Dead or Alive” crook, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh, Margot at the Wedding) and is taking her to frontier town, Red Rock, where she will face the noose and he will get a $10,000 reward (apparently a pocket-book-bursting $180,000 in today’s money).
With a blizzard setting in, Ruth agrees to take the horseless Warren (and his own three “Dead not Alive” bounty bodies) in his carriage to a stagecoach lodge, where they will wait out the storm. En route, they pick up equally horseless (4) Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins, Django Unchained) the new Confederate-leaning sheriff of Red Rock. Reaching the lodge, they meet (5) Bob the Mexican (Demian Bichir, Che); (6) Englishman, Oswaldo Mobray (Tim Roth, Reservoir Dogs); (7) Wrangler, Joe Gage (Michael Madsen, Kill Bill Part II); and (8) Confederate ex-General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern, Django Unchained). Channing Tatum (Magic Mike XXL) also makes an appearance. Trapped in the single-roomed cabin by snow, and with little else besides coffee, guns, rotten histories, suspicion and post-war animosity for entertainment; the eight characters set about working each other out, leading to inevitable, Tarantinonian, bloody results.
Before we go any further, let’s talk about length. The standard version of The Hateful Eight runs 13 minutes short of three hours. The special “roadshow” version (playing in the grander, 70mm format in limited cinemas) has an additional overture and intermission, so is 7 minutes longer than three hours. You might see that as being good value for your ticket (it is); you might think it means you’ll probably wet yourself if you don’t take a break (you will). No matter what you think, as Samuel L. Jackson might put it, “The Hateful Eight is one long mother****ing movie. Long, yes; but also god damn good”.
Before we go any further, let’s talk about length. The standard version of The Hateful Eight runs 13 minutes short of three hours. The special “roadshow” version (playing in the grander, 70mm format in limited cinemas) has an additional overture and intermission, so is 7 minutes longer than three hours. You might see that as being good value for your ticket (it is); you might think it means you’ll probably wet yourself if you don’t take a break (you will). No matter what you think, as Samuel L. Jackson might put it, “The Hateful Eight is one long mother****ing movie. Long, yes; but also god damn good”.
Split into six, non-linear chapters, the first three are markedly slower than the closing trio. Tarantino is a teller of rich tales, and patiently takes all the time he wants to build an intense, tense crescendo with a crashing climax. If you insist on taking a nap, make sure it is during chapter two, but know that to miss even a moment of his quintessentially sharp dialogue or a single arterial spurt of unclotted character development will lessen the impact of the heady climax. Everything in a Tarantino movie is almost annoyingly deliberate, and in spite of its length, The Hateful Eight remains admirably efficient. Like a Black Mamba circling its prey, it slides along silently, contorts and coils up tightly, then strikes in an noisy, cyclonic ambush of bloody fangs drenched with intoxicating, cinematic venom. In film-making terms, Tarantino is an inimitable predator. With The Hateful Eight, he is as consummate and effective as ever.
Besides being a dramatic, unravelling mystery, The Hateful Eight delves back into Tarantino’s often maligned fascination with both race and violence. Anyone uncomfortable with hearing the “Voldemortian”* N-word and its variations; or seeing heads exploded and torsos perforated, should go well-warned. As always, it is correct to question whether using either is necessary or worthwhile, but in the context and setting, both are arguably justifiable, highly stylised and rightly shocking. Their use is feasibly as critical of that behaviour as it is glorifying. Each way, it is very confronting – even by now when we are well used to Tarantino’s appropriation and then subversion on almost every front: be it race, violence, genre, style, dialogue, length, music or even history. The Hateful Eight is no different and its impact – warts and all – is strongly memorable well beyond the final bloodied frame.
Besides being a dramatic, unravelling mystery, The Hateful Eight delves back into Tarantino’s often maligned fascination with both race and violence. Anyone uncomfortable with hearing the “Voldemortian”* N-word and its variations; or seeing heads exploded and torsos perforated, should go well-warned. As always, it is correct to question whether using either is necessary or worthwhile, but in the context and setting, both are arguably justifiable, highly stylised and rightly shocking. Their use is feasibly as critical of that behaviour as it is glorifying. Each way, it is very confronting – even by now when we are well used to Tarantino’s appropriation and then subversion on almost every front: be it race, violence, genre, style, dialogue, length, music or even history. The Hateful Eight is no different and its impact – warts and all – is strongly memorable well beyond the final bloodied frame.
While it may not respectively reach the heights of grittiness of Reservoir Dogs, comedy of Pulp Fiction, cool of Jackie Brown, style of Kill Bill, verbosity of Death Proof, ingenuity of Inglorious Basterds or playfulness of Django Unchained; it includes measured and potent pours of all of those ingredients. By smoothly stirring them together with a vigorous ensemble of actors who he has worked with previously (and who all perform powerfully to his exacting requirements); a penetrating original soundtrack by the 84 year-old musical king of the Western, Ennio Morricone; and an abundant visual spectrum of snowy, mountainous Midwest USA, QT has crafted his most refined and composed Molotov cocktail of drama and intrigue to date. It isn't yet the case, simply because it is up against such illustrious competition, but in time, it may be viewed as his best film.
So go. It’s a long haul, but it will take you to a greatly rewarding and memorable (and very 'adult') destination – an atypical, original yet unoriginal, bold and decisive mother****er of a film. You were right to expect nothing less.
*"Voldemortian" (adj.) meaning "that which must not be said". Consider the term hereby coined (and pronounce henceforth with a soft ‘t’ to really impress your friends).
So go. It’s a long haul, but it will take you to a greatly rewarding and memorable (and very 'adult') destination – an atypical, original yet unoriginal, bold and decisive mother****er of a film. You were right to expect nothing less.
*"Voldemortian" (adj.) meaning "that which must not be said". Consider the term hereby coined (and pronounce henceforth with a soft ‘t’ to really impress your friends).
#thehatefuleight #hatefuleight #quentintarantino #tarantino #cinema #moviereview #filmreview #movies #films #godontgo