Hateful 8

I recently went to Quinten Tarantino’s 8^th movie, “The Hateful 8”, and let me say before I even start: I absolutely love Tarantino. I adore him and he could make a two hour movie featuring noting but him going to the bathroom and I’d still love it.

That being said, I really do love “The Hateful 8”. The acting is outstanding and everyone brought their “A” game to this one. As usual, the directing is some of the best I’ve seen.

One thing that really stood out for me about this movie was the suspense, an art form that Tarantino has down completely. Time after time he’s been able to use regular, everyday activities, to build stunning tension and fear. For example, in “Pulp Fiction”, two hit men are on their way to kill some people, but rather than talking about that and being serious, they talk about foot massages and burgers. Even when the hit is about to take place, they talk about food and other unrelated things.

Another example is in “Inglorious Bastards”. The movie opens to a character called “The Jew Hunter” interviewing a French farmer. You know something bad is going to happen but it is never mentioned until the last minute. Instead they talk about milk and have a philosophical discussion about “The Jew Hunter’s” role in the war.

The backdrop to the movie is that it is the old west and they are in Utah, there is a snow storm coming and everyone is converging on one shelter. It’s known to the audience that bad things are about to happen but for the most part, it stays calm. It’s just people hanging out and talking and every now and then, something violent happens and the regular Tarantino blood and gore comes out.

This movie actually threw me for a loop at several points. There were a lot of twists and I can really appreciate a good twist. I had no clue how this movie was going to end (but I did like the way it ended… I’ll get there in a minute) and I doubt anyone in the theater had any clue what was going to happen when they came in.

After this point I might spoil some things so look away to avoid them.

This movie isn’t for everyone. There is a lot of messed up stuff happening and I saw many people leave the theater part way through because of it. Tarantino really goes wherever he wants with this one. Because of this the blood and gore is amped up to an extent, but that’s not why people left. A woman is beaten and abused, Innocents are slaughtered, and there is an extended scene when Samuel Jackson describes how he killed a man to his father. A brutal death that includes stripping the man naked, forcing him to walk through snow, making him…. Felatio… Jackson for a blanket (which he never received) and his eventual death from freezing. On top of that there is a part when a couple characters drink poison and proceed to vomit an obscene amount of blood.

Alright, now for the ending. You know how at the end of certain movies, you can’t help but say “like everyone died!”? Well that actually happens here. No joke, everyone in the movie is dead by the end. It’s actually kinda funny. I really like the ending and I couldn’t think of a better way to end it.

The only issue I see is the pacing. It is kinda slow at points and it takes a while for the setup to end. I think they could've cut it down about 15 more minutes and it would've been a little better. Its not bad, and I like it the way it is but to appeal to everyone, a shortened version might have been better.

In the end, this movie is very good, it’s far from Tarantino’s best but it isn’t his worst. And his worst is still better than 80% of every other movie so I’d give this movie a solid 85%. There really isn’t a good reason to watch it in the theater so I’d recommend saving your money and watching it when it comes to a video store or Netflix.