Review: 'The Hateful Eight' (2015)

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   

Review: 'Kingsman: The Secret Service' (2015)

Twentieth Century Fox 

For those who do experience it, Kingsman: The Secret Service is sure to become one of those movies that will force some type of grin or cheerful smirk onto your face at its mentioning. It’s not one that will be remembered for its story, characters and really won’t be all that quotable but you will be hard pressed not say you had fun as it’s bizarre, off-the wall quality of action sequences and moments will keep you entertained throughout.  Sure you can pick at the story over and over but with Kingman: The Secret Service, Director Matthew Vaughn gives us a reason to have fun at the cinema. 

Opening in the year 1997, Kingman: The Secret Service begins with secret agents Harry Hart (Colin Firth) and Merlin (Mark Strong) being saved by a fellow secret agent as he gives his life to do so. Soon after this, Harry goes to the home of the fallen agent’s wife and young son Eggsy, informing them to contact the spy organization if they are ever in any trouble. Fast-forward 17 years and we find Eggsy (Taron Egerton) contacting Harry at a time when he is not only in trouble but at a time when the organization is in need of a new agent. This is all happening as billionaire Richmond Valentine (Samuel L. Jackson) is plotting to decrease the world’s population because of global warming.

You know it’s going to be one wild ride when Mark Hamel is a professor, tied to a chair and the secret agent there to rescue him fails to do so because he is sliced in half by a women who has swords for feet. This is one of the first scenes of the film and it really only gets wilder after that. Due to this, It quickly becomes clear that the story isn’t all that important, as the spectacle that is an action sequence, infused with comedy and just flat out bizarreness, is what is meant to catch your eye. To the benefit of the audience, it accomplishes this with ease.

Director Matthew Vaughn holds nothing back and at times, even amping up his already out of the ordinary visuals. Vaughn allows his style to take over by using a silly, one note premise that, while it doesn’t make much of a story, gives a base to his extremely fun action sequences. It becomes clear that he doesn’t want to take away from this entertaining experience with plot details and developments that could bog everything down. This doesn’t always work but in this case it works and then some due to Vaughn’s full commitment to not taking things all that serious.

Buying into Vaughn’s approach is his cast. Like the story, there isn’t much to the characters this cast portrays but they understand what they are working with and run with it. Firth and Strong are required to have a level of reserve to them but get to cut lose when moments of combat or chaos call for it. In a couple of big action sequences, Firth is amusing as a killing machine or just letting a few punks in a pub know who is boss. Strong’s character, Merlin, in charge of training potential secret agents, acts somewhat as a voice of reason and adds moments of compassion and whit to the cleverly done training scenes.

Fairly new to the scene, Taron Egerton as Eggsy fills the role well, getting to let loose a little more than most characters. What I like about the character and what Egerton brings to this is the clear evolution of confidence and comfort as the film goes on. In fact, becoming so confident that he negotiates doing a Princess from Sweden (Hanna Alstrom) from behind towards the films finale (yes this is worded awkwardly but not as awkward as what is said on screen).

The most outrageous character though belongs to Samuel L. Jackson as the villainous billionaire Richmond Valentine. Using a Mike Tyson-like lisp, Jackson may not make Valentine appear all that evil but it does go well with the nonsense antics that he is up to. The film’s final few scenes, features Valentine really only dropping the f-bomb and nothing more but with the lisp and Jackson’s distinctive delivery in general it’s hard not to be entertained.    

If there is anything to really fault Kingsman: The Secret Service for, it would have to be that it runs a little long, dragging at times. Along with this, a few of the action sequences turn very unsettling in very brief moments but these are small complaints that really won’t be much of a bother. With Kingsman: The Secret Service, Vaughn makes it very difficult not to have fun as he accomplishes something few directors that take on these type of premises forget to do: Entertain first.

Grade: B-      

Review-'Captain America: The Winter Soldier' (2014)

Walt Disney Studios

The recipe for a Marvel films has always included humor and action. These two ingredients have always been the most noticeable of any of the others but they both seemed to be used in larger amounts each time the recipe is re-used. As of late, the humor and action have become not components in the final product but the final product. With Captain America: The Winter Soldier though, it appears that the people over at Marvel and Disney realized that the recipe needed tweaked a bit. Captain America: The Winter Soldier uses respectable plot points and characters to focus on the bigger picture rather than sticking with heavy slap stick comedy and mindless action sequences that past Marvel films have over utilized.  

In his third go around, we first find Steve Rogers a.k.a Captain America (Chris Evans) stationed in the nation’s capital, working for S.H.I.E.L.D. Quickly into the film, Captain America is called to sea in an attempt to stop a group of pirates taking over a ship that belongs to S.H.I.E.L.D. While Rogers has his hands full, agent Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson), also on board, is found downloading data from a computer on to a flash drive. After it becomes unclear what exactly the data that Romanoff acquired is, trust among everyone involved at S.H.I.E.L.D. becomes an issue, even with senior official Alexander Price (Robert Redford) and S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

With the first scene of Captain America: The Winter Soldier featuring Steve Rogers using his enhanced physical abilities to pass Iraq war veteran Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) as both are jogging around the National Monument in D.C., saying ‘On your left’ each time, I could not help but think that this was just going to be another attempt at being a full out comedy. I’m thrilled to say that I was wrong. In fact the ‘To your left’ joke actually pays off as it is properly referred to again later in the film. One of the problems with Iron Man 3 and especially Thor: The Dark World was that it seemed like weak humor was around every corner and that every other character was comic relief. This is not the case it with The Winter Soldier which is refreshing to say the least.

The Winter Soldier stays focused on being an actioner not a comedy. Never is the audience allowed to question the genre they are experiencing. The Winter Soldier does not rely solely on humor as its primary approach to entertaining but instead uses nicely constructed, interesting action sequences to keep the audience in. I’m not saying that past Marvel films have not featured respectable action scenes; it’s just that The Winter Soldier uses these same type of scenes to actually move the film forward.

Discipline when using humor is a plus when evaluating the value of The Winter Soldier but it is it’s character focus that makes it one of Marvels better entries. Take a second to think about what Captain America has to offer when to comes to characteristics and behaviors. Why it didn’t really dawn on me until I was watching The Winter Soldier, I’m not sure but Captain America/Steve Rogers has possibly the most interesting back story of any character currently being used in the Marvel saga. Of course, with Steve Rogers, you have a guy who has to live with the results of being genetically enhanced but also someone that has to adjust to a world he has been absent from for nearly 70 years. Life at age 95 (the age he says he is in the film) is either non-existent or at its end but not for Steve Rogers. His life is just beginning again. This is all briefly brought to light in a compelling moment with an elder Peggy Carter from the first film. Unfortunately, this issue that Rogers has to deal with is really not explored any more than this one scene.

            

             The mystery that is given to other characters in the film is also noteworthy. The second title character, the Winter Soldier, involves plenty of mystique. Although, he is nothing special when it comes to villainous qualities, his back story allows him to be character to follow. It is continually hinted at that the past life of agent Natasha Romanoff is something that can be harmful if revealed so the fact that it is never truly explained gives the audience something to wonder about which is needed for the bigger picture.

            

             What is that bigger picture? The bigger picture is the foundation plot for the Marvel film universe and unlike past Marvel films, it’s something that The Winter Soldier keeps in mind. This movie is about S.H.I.E.L.D. and how its future could be affected. This plot point is connected to themes from the first Captain America film which makes for a solid plot and works in the entire sagas favor. Also strengthening the plot is the focus on trust. Even though Nick Fury makes mention of it way too much, this theme adds a human element to an unrealistic concept.  

            

             One negative aspect regarding The Winter Soldier’s plot is that sometimes it moves too quick while also packing a lot in causing for things to get a little muffled at times. This is small problem though as the more respectable aspects of the plot along with strong characters over shadow it. It is also because of these aspects that The Winter Soldier is so encouraging. Going in, it was easy to think that the mega successful Marvel Universe was just a sinking ship. The Winter Soldier not only assures that things are on the up but that the Marvel product can actually match the financial gain.

Grade: B+