The Hateful Eight

[RealityChuck]

Tarantino's latest: lots of fake blood and killer dialog about a bunch of people holed up in a store during a blizzard.

[Guest themetfairy]

It's very long and the first hour and three quarters are just too talky (without enough of the humor we've come to expect from Tarantino). It picks up in the final hour, but it's far from Tarantino's best work.

[Frayed Knot]

Considering that my main complaint about Tarantino movies is that they generally run on longer than his ideas for the plot do -- a condition which often leaves him with nothing else than to have everyone shoot everyone else for the final 20 minutes -- the idea that this one starts slowly isn't a good sign, nor is the 2 hour 48 minute listed running time. Jeez, even Judd Apatow doesn't make comedies that long!!

I'm on the fence about whether I want to invest the time in this one.

[RealityChuck]

I saw it today (hence the topic) and loved it.

I do disagree that Tarantino runs out of ideas, though. The plot is well constructed and little things that get introduced as digressions early on turn out to have importance in the final act.

I didn't find it slow; the dialogue carries it in the early parts, and Tarantino is subtly building character and plot for the end. It reminded me in a way of H. P. Lovecraft's "The Rats in the Walls," a story that starts out with things that seem dull, but which end up making everything work.

He's also a master storyteller, doing things with the form that no one else could carry off.

I wouldn't call this his best (that's still Pulp Fiction, but he still hasn't made a bad movie.

[Vic Sage]

RealityChuck wrote: I wouldn't call this his best (that's still Pulp Fiction, but he still hasn't made a bad movie.

DEATHPROOF and FOUR ROOMS were both bad. JACKIE BROWN is saved by a great Robert Forster performance. The rest of his stuff is good to great. I'm looking forward to seeing this one this weekend.

[Vic Sage]

Tarantino is carrying on the themes of America's history of racial conflict from DJANGO, this time implying a more hopeful (if ultimately futile) cooperation between the races by the end. And there is a certain Aristotilian unity of time and place, super-imposed on white, mountainous landscapes of snow and cold, with the crucified Christ looking down on the goings on. And there is some darkly funny and truly horrific stuff, with the last half-hour an orgy of blood and guts. And there is his typical use of great 70s-80s era actors (Bruce Dern, Kurt Russell, Lee Horsley) and members of his stock company (Sam Jackson, Michael Madson, Tim Roth), accompanied by another great Morricone score.

But i didn't love it.

Unlike DJANGO, there is absolutely nobody to root for here, and its slow pace doesn't build in intensity; it's just blah blah blah until... [spoilerS] everybody dies [END SPOILERS]. If the excessive violence had been spread out more, it could've built from 1 killing to the next, but this is like... well, have you ever been nauseated after a night of heavy drinking, and you're just sort of lingering like that for hours, and then you burp, but your burp picks up a hitchhiker and you end up projectile vomiting and shitting yourself all at once? It's sort of like that. And where the fuck did that Tarantino narration come from? It's never established as a storytelling device... it just shows up halfway through the movie, then disappears. wtf?

If you want to see a great film in which a bunch of bad guys are stuck in a room before ultimately tearing themselves apart, see the infinitely superior RESERVOIR DOGS.

I'm glad i saw H8, and middling Tarantino is better than alot of other stuff, but this one isn't even in Quentin's top 5.

Tarantino filmography: viewtopic.php?f=11&t=18827&p=493057&hilit=tarantino#p493057

[Guest themetfairy]

Pulp Fiction is on cable right now.

It reminds me why I love Tarantino so much - his unique and warped sense of humor is incredible!

That's what was lacking in The Hateful Eight - it just didn't have that same touch.

[Guest El Segundo Escupidor]

I have read the opinion of my learned brethren, Sage J and Fairy J, and I agree with their reasons.

I would also like to add that Tarantino's attempts to augment shock value are coming off as rather desperate.