A film that was nearly scrapped by director Quentin Tarantino is both a fun time at the movie theater, yet just doesn't feel as fantastic as it was claimed to be. A well cut out story falls apart when it needs to define itself the most, and a plot twist that was as vaguely awkward as it gets.
Director Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) is back with a 70mm camera and a story that starts out as a "Who Dunn It in the Old West" and then evolves into a traditional Quentin Tarantino film. The cast is comprised of Samuel L. Jackson (Marvel's The Avengers), Kurt Russel (Furious 7), Jennifer Jason Leigh, Channing Tatum (Magic Mike), Tim Roth (The Incredible Hulk), Walton Goggins ( Justified), Bruce Dern (Nebraska), all of which do a solid job at conveying their roles.
The plot consist of Samuel L. Jackson's Major Marquis Warren being stranded due to a arriving blizzard and receiving a ride to a travelers lodge from Kurt Russell's John "The Hang Man"Ruth. Upon arriving at the lodge, the film turns into a mystery of what happened to Minnie, the owner of the lodge, as well as who is in association with Jennifer Jason Leigh, and trying to get her free. The films major connection with the audience is trying to convey which individuals are involved and which are innocent bystanders. The is film is broken into six chapters and has the fifth chapter serve as the big reveal for the film.
In essence the film is over done in the style of Tarantino at the very most and almost spoils the good taste of the film.The film felt as though Django was taken and smothered in Tarantino sauce once again, when it didn't have to be, doubling the gore, sexual jokes, mistreatment of women, and a whole lot of bloody gun play and you have The Hateful Eight. The cinematography does do the film justice in a widescreen scenario but at the same time the film feels better justified as a play.
In Django Unchained (A film that will constantly be referenced in comparison), the audience roots for Django to find freedom and rescue the love of his life. Yet in comparison, The Hateful Eight does not know who exactly they want the audience to root for at this point. The film attempts to rotate the audiences respect between each character and attempts to have us develop their motives for saving the captive, Yet this is where the film fails because most of the characters seem one dimensional and each feels as though they were barely explored in depthIt is sad to say that the film does nothing to develop the world of The Hateful Eight, only to give us a glimpse of what the character holds through dialogue that reveals minimal back story, that is almost pointless when you are trying to figure out who is lying among them.
Ambitious and enjoyable, yet not a memorable and ground breaking film that it attempted to be. Just like how it split audiences down the middle,
Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight shoots its way to a 2.5 out of 5 stars
