Sunday, December 27, 2015

[Review] The Hateful Eight


It's a film that almost didn't get made, due to an unfortunately leaked script. Even if it's a step down from Quentin Tarantino's previous two, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, I think it's safe to say most of us are happy it did get made. Plus, with a title like The Hateful Eight, it couldn't be any more fitting for Tarantino's 8th film right?

Opening with wide snowy landscape shots and a menacing score from Ennio Morricone, we know we're in for a mischievous, violent, and bloody Western. Samuel L. Jackson plays Marquis "The Bounty Hunter"--he's sitting atop a pile of dead bodies when he's first introduced. In order to get in from the cold, he tracks down a stagecoach, which contains John "The Hangman" (Kurt Russell) and Daisy "The Prisoner"(Jennifer Jason Leigh)--a fugitive facing a murder trial.

Along the way, they pick up Chris "The Sheriff" (Walton Goggins). Once the blizzard riles up, the grizzly crew seeks shelter at a shack called Minnie's Haberdashery, where they encounter Bob "The Mexican" (Demian Bichir), Oswaldo "The Little Man" (Tim Roth), Joe "The Cow Puncher" (Michael Madsen), and General Sanford "The Confederate" (Bruce Dern). As you can guess, all hell eventually breaks this loose when these 8 wrongdoers are stranded in small quarters, and I'll leave it at that.

Nothing in The Hateful Eight strays from the Tarantino norm. The mostly talky scenes (that are stuffed with filthy dialogue) gradually escalate, almost in stage play fashion. You can practically visualize Tarantino himself acting out the scenes exactly the way he wants things said and done. Everything straddles borders of exploitation and offensiveness. And despite being overlong (as usual), there is so much style and panache displayed in all its filmmaking and storytelling aspects--that it remains sadistically entertaining. The Tarantino norm also means that there are many surprises and payoffs that break through all the slow-build and excess.

One of The Hateful Eight's big draws from the beginning has been its stacked cast, and the ensemble proves to be well-chosen as they deliver with all they've got. Obviously some of the characters are more key players than others, but there are enough quirks wrangled in for each one of them to differentiate from each other. We expect Kurt Russell and Bruce Dern to be solid here as gritty Western vets, and they certainly are. Walter Goggins often finds himself in familiar territory with his roles, which isn't a bad thing because he fits in perfectly here. Then there's Tim Roth, who seems to be filling the Christoph Waltz void. It's difficult to choose a standout of the bunch because they all offer a lot within their lanes, but Samuel L. and Jennifer Jason Leigh emerge as those ones.

It's an ugly film populated with nasty people, but somehow we're glad they're here... There just may be a little too much time with them.

7.5/10

1 comment:

  1. THREE EXAMPLES OF WHY MEN SHOULD USE THE BIBLE ALONE BY STEVE FINNELL

    Should mankind use the Bible and the Bible alone for teaching faith and practice? If God's truth is the template for you, then the Bible should be your source for truth.

    THREE EXAMPLES OF WHY EXTRA-BIBLICAL SOURCES ARE NOT RELIABLE SOURCES FOR GOD'S TRUTH.

    1. Quote from Pope Francis May 22, 2013: "The Lord created us in His image and likeness, and we are the image of the Lord, and He does good and all of us have this commandment at heart: do good and do not evil. All of us. "But Father, this is not Catholic! He cannot do good.' Yes he can..."The Lord has redeemed all of us,all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us not just Catholics Everyone! Father, the atheist? Even the atheists. Everyone! ....We must meet one another doing good. ' But I don't believe, Father, I am an atheist! But do good:we will meet one another there."

    2. Quote from Billy Graham October 20, 1997: "I think everybody that loves Christ, or knows Christ, whether they're conscious of it or not, they're members of the Body of Christ......He's calling people out of the world for His name, whether they come from the Muslim world, or the Buddhist world,or the Christian world, or the non-believing world, they are members of the Body of Christ,because they've been called by God. They may not even know the name of Jesus, but they know in their hearts that they need something that they don't have, and they turn to the only light that they have, and I think they are saved, and that they're going to be with us in heaven."

    3. Quote from Doctrine of Covenants -section 130:22 (Mormon supposed divine revelations): The "Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man's; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were is not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

    These three quotes are all contrary to the Bible.





    GOD'S WORD IS FOUND IN THE BIBLE AND THE BIBLE ALONE.


    YOU ARE INVITED TO FOLLOW MY BLOG. http://steve-finnell.blogspot.com

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