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| The Weinstein Company |
It is no secret that
Quentin Tarantino, within his films, has a strong tendency to paint the screen
red, so to speak. If Tarantino is at the helm, blood will be shed and no
character or set piece is safe. His latest film, The Hateful Eight is no expectation to this trademark style. Less
people may be aware that with this blood drenched violence also comes a wildly
entertaining, dialogue heavy script that only a master penman can piece
together. The Hateful Eight is also
no exception to this Tarantino film characteristic. So considering just these
two factors, The Hateful Eight is
Tarantino’s most Tarantino film yet. At the same time though, it is important
to make very clear, The Hateful Eight
is a different animal all of its own.
Taking place for a
majority of its 167 minute running time (the non-70mm Roadshow version) in a
cabin on a mountain range in Wyoming being effected by a nasty blizzard not
long after the civil war, The Hateful
Eight actually opens with a stage coach at the center of
things. This stage coach, its driver
and two passengers, comes across Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a
bounty hunter on his way to Red Rock, right smack dab in the middle of their
path, setting on a stack of bodies. It just so happens that occupying the stage
coach is the infamous John Ruth (Kurt Russell), which has acquired “The Hangman”
nickname due to his practice of delivering a prisoner alive so that a hanging
can take place. His prisoner, literally chained to his side, at this point in
time is Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who has a $10,000 price tag on
her head.
With the blizzard
quickly approaching, Major Warren has no choice but to ask for a ride a after a
brief discussion to sort out reluctantly, John Ruth allows him to do so. The
discussion reveals that Ruth and Warren have crossed each other’s paths before
which prompt’s Ruth, when in the stage coach with Warren, to ask to read a
letter Warren has from President Lincoln. As Ruth is reading the letter, were
given the first great line of this snowy, no bullets saved western and then
assured we are in for one wickedly wild ride.
Shortly after this, the
stage coach comes across former militiaman and, according to him, the new
sheriff of Red Rock, Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins). After he is able to
persuade John Ruth to allow him to travel with them, the now 4 person stage
coach and its driver O.B. (James Parks, who, regardless of not being one of the
‘hateful eight’, goes toe to toe with the rest of cast, making for a memorable
performance to say the least) make their way to Minnie’s Haberdashery for
shelter.
However, questions of
thing not be how they should when Minnie is nowhere to be found when arriving
and her Haberdashery is being occupied by Bob (Demian Bichir), Oswaldo Mobray
(Tim Roth), Joe Gage (Michael Madsen) and General Sandy Smithers (Bruce Dern).
These 4 occupants, along with the four from the stage coach passengers, make up
the ‘hateful eight’, and with all of them having a story (some knowing others
past, some not), stuck inside the Haberdashery, all that can be done is to
question the intentions and grow even more suspicious of one another.
Even though some of
them had already been given a chance to bring life to their characters, it is
in this cabin together that Tarantino’s cast, nearly an alumni-like gathering
from his past efforts, bring their own special touch to the roles they fill.
Jennifer Jason Leigh as the raggedy, ruff, thrown around prisoner Daisy
Domergue is racking up supporting actress nominations with Oscar voters likely
following suit and for good reason as she pours every ounce of bizarre humor
and over the top orneriness into every word or action while also telling us a
lot with long non-verbal moments. The men though are able to hold their own
alongside her as each performance and character is as zany and entertaining but
also important as the next.
For anyone that has
witness a Tarantino project before, it will come as no surprise that his script
tends to outshine the performances (even if superb) that play it out when
crammed in this cabin. Tarantino has no trouble building tension through
conversation as he uses background, racial and gender differences and also
similarities to create what essentially is one big scene that is loaded with
intrigue and questions. It is when he finally has the room ready to explode in
turmoil, that he goes to a violence, ultra-gory at times, that only he can
produce. With Ennio Morricone’s fitting score taking place behind all this and
a mystery still unfolding, Tarantino once again blends genre, giving The Hateful Eight a horror of the slasher
variety feel while also being a thriller steeped in carefully placed deductive
reasoning.
The
Hateful Eight has and will likely continue to take a
lot of heat for the over-the-top, blood and guts type of violence present at
times but Tarantino has always been under the microscope for this. So maybe
because he is constantly hearing about how his brand is violently unnecessary,
is indeed the reason is The Hateful Eight
is at times, some of his most gruesome work. Or, my better guess is that he
will and can put whatever he wants to on screen and The Hateful Eight is a reminder of this. He well knows how
indulgent he in being and if you want to indulge with him that’s great and if
not, he doesn’t really care. The issue is that, in this particular case, he
tends to end the tension he has carefully built up in a rather abrupt matter
with these more violent moments that feel awkwardly placed.
Similar to how
Tarantino challenges the audience to let loose a bit, he also challenges us to
look deeper than violent characteristics. If one is able to do this with The Hateful Eight, like his previous
film Django Unchained, one will find moments
of rich dialogue that, even if at a small level, can be rather touching. The
person that can do this will also find a fascinating and wacky mystery that
will have you wondering who just might walk out of that cabin.
Grade:
B
