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The Hateful Eight
3/5
dir-scr Quentin Tarantino
prd Richard N Gladstein, Stacey Sher, Shannon McIntosh
with Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Walton Goggins, Demian Bichir, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Bruce Dern, Channing Tatum, James Parks, Dana Gourrier, Zoe Bell
release US 25.Dec.15, UK 8.Jan.16
15/US Weinstein 2h48
The Hateful Eight
Trust no one: Jackson, Leigh and Russell

bichir roth madsen
R E V I E W    B Y    R I C H    C L I N E
The Hateful Eight With a meandering pace and rambling dialog, this slow-building thriller plays with Western tropes as eight strangers with lingering Civil War issues are stranded in a snowy, isolated place. The ways they discover connections and rivalries between them is very cool, but the the film feels oddly slack for a Tarantino movie, even with the growing suspicions and increasingly violent body count. It might actually work better on stage.

On the way through Wyoming to Red Rock, former cavalry officer Warren (Jackson) hitches a ride in a stagecoach with fellow bounty hunter John (Russell), who's taking feisty killer Daisy (Leigh) to collect the reward and see her hanged. They also pick up stranded new sheriff Chris (Goggins) as an encroaching blizzard forces them to take refuge at an isolated lodge manned by Bob (Bichir). Hangman Oswaldo (Roth) and war veteran Sandy(Dern) have already holed up there with a mysterious friend Joe (Madsen). And it'll be a miracle if anyone leaves here alive.

As usual, Tarantino's script has a snap to it that holds the attention, complete with blackly witty details and knowing flashes of violence, racism and misogyny. But while the film is designed with flair, it's directed in a way that makes scenes play out like a theatrical farce. This makes the overwhelmingly wordy script feel rather static, with lengthy conversations about past exploits and thorny discussions about political issues that are more relevant today than in the 19th century. There's also some rather indulgent postmodern narration.

Performances build an entertaining range of oddball characters: Jackson's sardonic weariness, Russell's bluster, Roth's smirking dandy and so on. With the most textured characters, Goggins and Leigh steal the show as lively, jaggedly hilarious people who are enjoyably unpredictable. And an extended flashback extends the cast, adding some additional conflict while slyly making it impossible to work out who the eponymous eight central figures are meant to be.

Tarantino is good enough at creating character tension to keep the audience gripped, but the movie's energy is strangely muted. It looks great, with a spectacular snowy landscape expansively photographed by Robert Richardson and accompanied by a striking Ennio Morricone score. But the majority of the action takes place in a single setting as these chatty characters jostle to maintain control over their destinies. There's plenty of potential, but without a deeper reason for all of the brutality, it never quite pays off.

cert 18 themes, language, violence 22.Dec.15

R E A D E R   R E V I E W S
send your review to Shadows... The Hateful Eight Kallie Wilbourn, Las Vegas, New Mexico: 2/5 This film tantalizes with wonderful, sometimes hilarious performances and hints of mysteries to be revealed but in the end one feels duped into enduring a lot of explosive violence in hopes of redemption (of any kind) that never happens. Tarantino pulls out a lot of Western and indeed Tarantino tropes and that really does not lessen the feeling of being fooled and complicit in mere sadistic nastiness. I felt ashamed that my dogs got their dinner a little bit late. (29.Jan.16)
© 2015 by Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
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