Regardless of your opinions on Tarantino’s taste level or narrative choices, it’s pretty clear the man has an absolute reverence for the craft of cinema. Every single one of his works tends towards adoring shout outs and resurrections of classic themes and tropes, ranging from pulp noir trash novels to the Kurosawa/Spaghetti Westerns of yore. He’s also backed this commitment up with artistic choices like shooting in analog and, for his newest offering, The Hateful Eight, specifically in 70mm film.
His dismissal of the industry’s bulk move towards digital also means you might find yourself waiting a bit longer to see this 3 hour Postbellum epic as most theaters aren’t capable of hosting a 70mm film in its native format, but this is one that deserves to be seen in its intended form.
Set in Wyoming, the film finds its cast seeking refuge from a coming blizzard at a stagecoach stop and, like all Tarantino films, presents you with a motley and improbable dramatis personae.
One of my favorite things about Tarantino’s oeuvre is his ability to cast and with The Hateful Eight we get a generous serving of returning faces as Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell and Walton Goggins. The interesting thing about this one is that the format it was filmed in often feels like it is playing an additional character, the same way that science fiction spaceships typically feel like they have distinct personality. Hateful Eight has an atmosphere to it that at once feels both grand and cloistered.
But it’s important to note that this one is faithful to the Tarantino method. Chit-chatty dialog, genre archetypes, physical comedy played for tension relief and, of course, a whole lot of killing.
This crew of hateful bad guys and not so great lawmen assemble at Minnie’s Haberdashery to wait out the storm, swap campfire style stories and essentially get on one another’s nerves. The film attempts to delve into the tense aftermath of post Civil War America and in doing so, can sometimes hit some uncomfortable notes with regards to race in both words used and depictions of.
Whereas Django Unchained showed you upfront that it was going to talk about some ugly facts about racial tensions, Hateful Eight takes a slower but no less aggressive approach towards the ghosts in both America’s past and present. It’s this willingness to talk about taboo topics that makes Tarantino such an interesting watch, whether or not you agree with his methods or right to talk about these things with authority. He remains one of the only big names that is willing to talk about these things while still having the clout to get noticed, for better or worse.
Like I said before, Hateful Eight is a whopper of nearly three hours and there were a few times I found myself squirming due to the pacing rather than the subject matter, something I’ve never dealt with in a Tarantino flick, even in the nearly four hour combined running time of Kill Bill. I think a lot of that stems from the fact the film is so distinctly divided into a slow boil first half and a blood-fest of a back half, but it remains true to form and that’s something that’s impressive to see a director maintain over more than two decades. It’s very clear this is a Tarantino film and it’s that fact right there that will determine your own enjoyment.
