Last week I was fortunate enough to have gone to the European premier of the Hateful Eight. I’m not going to lie, I hadn’t originally planned to see the film in theater, I’m not a particularly ardent Tarantino fan, although I do enjoy his films. But I obviously wasn’t going to pass up such an opportunity. After the film, I was glad I didn’t.
When trying to explain it to someone who asked me ‘Is it good?’, it was tough to say ‘yes,’ because I felt the film was more along the lines of brilliant. For the fans of Tarantino out there, imagine a scenario reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs (Which I didn’t particularly like), eight men stuck together, yet one, or more of them, you can’t trust. Then add an intense setting and really gritty setting, a single room shed in the middle of a blizzard. This would likely have been enough to make a really good film, but Tarantino went one further, he threw in Samuel L. Jackson. The thing with Sam L. Jackson, is, well… it’s difficult to dislike him or his characters due to the natural humour and charisma he brings to them. The same applies in this case, especially given the singular nature of his character, a black union major in a post civil war southern state. In a throwback to Pulp Fiction, we get a lot of character discussion about their past and background, and Major Warren Smith’s (Jackson), has likely the most colourful (No pun intended). A little rivalry from a confederate general and you have a great subplot. It is truly masterful the way that Tarantino has dealt with racist themes through the major’s character, and really entertaining to watch.
In fact, the whole film is entertaining to watch, in a Django/Basterds way, with some excessive violence or insults that in any other setting would have us shocked or crying, but Tarantino has us laughing. I really couldn’t say how he does it, but I can say it’s largely thanks to the dialogue. The witty to and fro in between the characters as they wait out the storm is incredibly entertaining. What makes it better is that as they talk, you discover several of the characters are connected, leading to hateful sentiments at the very least. In some ways the film becomes a great big game of clue, in a who did it? sort of way. Yet unlike Django/Basterds, the film is not just a long marathon of senseless violence, how can it be with eight characters? Instead, Tarantino makes us wait, wait to the point where we’re desperate for some violence. At that point, it does indeed come gushing out. The blood does I mean. The violence happens in explosive bursts. Honestly, it’s never been more satisfying to see a man’s head get blown off, and yes I can say that without spoilers because it’s a Tarantino film, so it will obviously have “explosive” action. The resulting effect is that you have had great dialogue and been kept entertained, as well as crucially got to know the characters many qualities, and then it suddenly collapses into chaos and the infamous Tarantino violence we know and love, giving us the best of all that Tarantino is good at.
This is about as much as I can likely say without going into spoilers. It is a long film, but the satisfying ending, the great scenery shots, good plot and witty dialogue in between. Not to mention a great ensemble cast, including the magnanimous Kurt Russell. This along with the little subplots and arguments amongst the individual characters, again, all in the same one setting and the end result is a surprising yet successful western meets a who did it mystery that really does keep you guessing until the very end.
Not to mention Samuel L. Jackson (Yes I love Sam L. Jackson)
Andre Hirschler 