The Hateful Eight (Quentin Tarantino)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb / Wiki

[Henry Gale]

This, despite its surface-level structural simplicity, is a lot to wrap my head around, so the only way I feel like going about starting a conversation about it right now is to submit my ranking with an initial gut-feeling as to where it lands in his filmography for me:

1. Jackie Brown
2. Inglourious Basterds
3. Kill Bill
4. Pulp Fiction
5. The Hateful Eight
6. Reservoir Dogs
7. Django Unchained
8. Death Proof

Also, the fact that I could make a ranking of the performances where Bruce Dernnn likely lands near the bottom shows just how fucking good everyone is in this.

[ledfloyd]

Matt Zoller Seitz's review of this one has me kind of dreading it.

[Dead & Messed Up]

Matt Zoller Seitz's review of this one has me kind of dreading it.

His review isn't far off, but I think the film has sufficiently compelling character cores and arcs to make up for its excesses (both in terms of length and propriety), even if it's probably my least favorite Tarantino film - the flick's basically Reservoir Dogs but with that extra hour Reservoir Dogs didn't need. Seitz also doesn't say much on Walton Goggins' character, who captures a lot of interest as the story goes on.

[Acapelli]

Walton goggins ruled in this

[Dukefrukem]

Damn near perfect. Tension builds right from the start.
Couple of small quips; I didn't like the Quentin Tarantino narration. I thought that was kind of lazy out of left field. Thrown in only as humor/comic relief. It wasn't needed as a plot point.

Bruce Dern nails it.
Tim Roth nails it.
Kurt Russell nails it.
Walton Goggins nails it.
Jennifer Jason Leigh nails it.

Michael Madsen... was underused. And I thought maybe there could be a bit more to his character. I also thought he was playing the same character from Reservoir Dogs.

But hot damn does Samuel L. Jackson steal this. His dialog was masterful.

[Watashi]

Probably my favorite Tarantino after Basterds. I could have spend at least 6 hours with these characters.

[Scar]

It did not feel like three hours.

[Dukefrukem]

1. Pulp Fiction
2. The Hateful Eight
3. Kill Bill
4. Inglourious Basterds
5. Reservoir Dogs
6. Death Proof
7. Django Unchained
8. Jackie Brown

[Watashi]

Also as for the violence and sadism, it's not as bad as any episode of Game of Thrones. Maybe I'm just desensitized?

[Dukefrukem]

Also as for the violence and sadism, it's not as bad as any episode of Game of Thrones. Maybe I'm just desensitized?

My initial reaction was this was his bloodiest/most violent film. Very gross in some scenes.

[Scar]

Bloodier than Kill Bill? I know I'm desensitized, but come on.

[Dukefrukem]

Bloodier than Kill Bill? I know I'm desensitized, but come on.

Way bloodier. Kill Bill was campy over-the-top stuff. Hateful Eight gritty gratuitous shit.

[Scar]

Way bloodier. Kill Bill was campy over-the-top stuff. Hateful Eight gritty gratuitous shit.

Eh. I laughed. I felt Django was far bloodier, granted I was laughing there, too.

[Irish]

This was Tarantino at his most self indulgent, with the loosest structure and the lamest writing he's presented yet. It really made me wish (yet again) that he and Roger Avery never fell out. QT needs somebody around to tap him on the shoulder and say, "No, Quentin, that's a bad idea."

There's lots of problems around, and I'm not talking about the politics of the thing. Biggest, for me: There's no suspense, and not one of these characters is the least bit interesting.

I could have spent an entire day riding around with Jules and Vincent, listening to them talk about Dutch cops, the holiest of holies, and five dollar shakes. Likewise, mostly, for every character in almost every other Tarantino movie.

The people in H8, by contrast, never say a damn thing that's worth listening to. So in addition to a studiously dull, cut rate version of And Then There Were None, we're deprived of the good rhythms, sing-song dialogue, and Tarantino's usual pace.

A disappointment, because usually with Tarantino even if I don't like the overall film (Basterds, Django) there's at least a piece of it that gets to me, or a performance I can hang onto. Here, there is nothing. Even highly watchable actors like Kurt Russell and Walter Goggins are rendered inert by Tarantino's scenes.

PS: Doubly weird are the critics who are calling this hyper-violent. It makes me think that they (1) don't watch many modern horror movies and (2) they've not seen any recent genre stuff out of Asia. Seriously? Let Us Prey? I Saw the Devil? The Raid? Hello, McFly?!

[Dead & Messed Up]

This was Tarantino at his most self indulgent, with the loosest structure and the lamest writing he's presented yet. It really made me wish (yet again) that he and Roger Avery never fell out. QT needs somebody around to tap him on the shoulder and say, "No, Quentin, that's a bad idea."

There's lots of problems around, and I'm not talking about the politics of the thing. Biggest, for me: There's no suspense, and not one of these characters is the least bit interesting.

I could have spent an entire day riding around with Jules and Vincent, listening to them talk about Dutch cops, the holiest of holies, and five dollar shakes. Likewise, mostly, for every character in almost every other Tarantino movie.

The people in H8, by contrast, never say a damn thing that's worth listening to. So in addition to a studiously dull, cut rate version of And Then There Were None, we're deprived of the good rhythms, sing-song dialogue, and Tarantino's usual pace.

I found it suspenseful in spots, but otherwise I agree with much of this.

[ciaoelor]

What the hell is QT's 10th film gonna be like? Not just any old collage, I hope. I mean if he really intends to end at 10, then he's gotta go out with a bang, right?

I'd love for him to make a silent film. Not an homage, but a movie that communicates purely through images. Shot in IMAX!

Whatever it is, it should definitely feel like a celebration, and a bittersweet farewell.

Perhaps it'll be a satire of Hollywood, where Black artists come together to take over White productions, by literally any bloody means necessary.

[Ezee E]

A masterful first half that doesn't satisfy its tension when all is revealed afterwards. I need to ponder on it, but I kind of just don't like the second half, especially its last 15-20 minutes which is kind of horrible across the board, something I've never said about a Tarantino movie. I'm going to need to think about it a little longer to articulate it.

I did like the roadshow approach though. Overture, the booklet I got, the bathroom break... I kind of hope there's more types of movies like that in the future.

[Skitch]

The 70mm was gorgeous and the score was incredible. I don't care how many emails he sent begging for the job, Channing was a sore thumb of casting. He did fine, but it felt odd. While they were beautiful to look at, I don't need 15 masturbatory establishing shots every time a stage coach is doing anything. Middle of the pack Tarantino for me, but thats still upper echelon cinema all around.

Did anyone else notice all the houses and fences in the background every time they were outside? Felt like a pretty populated area. /nitpick

[ciaoelor]

The 70mm was gorgeous and the score was incredible. I don't care how many emails he sent begging for the job, Channing was a sore thumb of casting. He did fine, but it felt odd.

A woman with her boyfriend gasped so loudly when he started speaking French.

[Ezee E]

So, I've decided that the payoff at the end just isn't earned or justified. Daisy's character never actually does anything evil (that we see) in this movie, that makes her long murder seem interesting, funny, justified anything really. In fact, I'm not quite sure how we're suppose to feel. The whole second half gives answers to the image that they present in the first half, but it's not really that interesting. The group that live in the house are so fabricated "happy" and silly that I had no care that they were gone. "Oui," chess matches, and a completely clueless Zoe Bell jumping around for joy when strangers come into the household... Come on.

This is a bummer, because I really enjoyed everything the tension and presentation of the first half. If there's ANYTHING I can say positive about the second half is Bruce Dern's performance will only improve the second time around. He basically does exactly as he's told, until he's pushed to an extreme.

[Ezee E]

**** -
Pulp Fiction
Jackie Brown
Kill Bill
Inglorious Basterds
Django Unchained

***
Reservoir Dogs

** 1/2
Hateful Eight

**
Death Proof

[Pop Trash]

Death Proof improved for me the second time around. It might still be his 'worst' movie (haven't seen H8 yet), but the flaws (the indulgent/unbelievable conversations the women characters have) receded a bit.

[Watashi]

No idea how someone could hate Death Proof. It's masterful.

[Ezee E]

It's simply boring to me with extended conversations that are just conversations, rather than the Travolta/Jackson lead to a kill. I never found anything thrilling about the stunt at the end, and thought it was pretty obvious what would happen the whole second half.

What's masterful about it?