The Hateful Eight (18.)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Starring Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins, Demien Bichir and Bruce Dern. 168 mins. 70 mm Roadshow version 187 mins.
For his eighth film Tarantino has re-hashed the themes of his tight and concise first film Reservoir Dogs – a group of desperate villains and ne'erdowells trapped together in a situation where nobody or nothing is quite what they seem – and spread them out across the sprawling epic running length of all his other films. Then to hype it up that bit more, he is pushing audiences towards seeing it in an exclusive roadshow version that means the film is shown in 70mm, has an overture before the film starts (giving the proper respect to a marvellous, mostly, new score by the maestro Ennio Morricone), a 12 minute intermission and costs a fortune. The Hateful Eight has funny dialogue, tension, invention, great performances, twists and reversal. It is packed full of entertainment: it just isn't packed with three hours and seven minutes worth of entertainment.
Of course this is entirely consistent with his usual methodology, which is to take downmarket or exploitative themes and ideas and then present them in classy, Oscar Pleader settings. Though Agatha Christie is regularly referenced in discussions of the film it is not a whodunnit, more a whowilldoit, a whenwilltheydoit, and a whatexactlywilltheydo. Kurt Russell is the bounty hunter taking Leigh to be hung at Red Rock, wary that an attempt will be made to free his captive when a fierce blizzard forces him to hole up at Millie's Haberdashery with six other hateful types. The idea of making a three hour 70mm epic that is basically a chamber piece limited to two interiors, the inside of a stagecoach and the open plan of the Haberdashery is agreeably perverse but self defeating – it emphasises the disparity between the grandeur with which it is presented and comparative meagreness of the content.
Not that there's anything particularly awful about the contents; it's just that everything here is a little too familiar. The same old Tarantino regulars and a few new faces delivering that distinctive QT dialogue, enacting the same well worn narrative sleights of hand and rejiggings of chronology, indulging the usual fetish for having people say “kneegar.” I enjoyed watching Hateful Eight but as soon as it had finished began to feel that it hadn't really been worth the time or expense. It's all tricks that you've seen before in Tarantino films, and seen placed in closer and more potent proximity to each other. Of course, if some unknown had made it I be raving about it (while moaning about it being too Tarantinoesque.) But if an unknown had made it it would've been two hours long and probably all the better for it.
Week of release reviews for Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained and Death Proof.
The Hateful Eight (18.)
Directed by Quentin Tarantino.
Starring Kurt Russell, Samuel L. Jackson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Tim Roth, Walton Goggins, Demien Bichir and Bruce Dern. 168 mins. 70 mm Roadshow version 187 mins.
For his eighth film Tarantino has re-hashed the themes of his tight and concise first film Reservoir Dogs – a group of desperate villains and ne'erdowells trapped together in a situation where nobody or nothing is quite what they seem – and spread them out across the sprawling epic running length of all his other films. Then to hype it up that bit more, he is pushing audiences towards seeing it in an exclusive roadshow version that means the film is shown in 70mm, has an overture before the film starts (giving the proper respect to a marvellous, mostly, new score by the maestro Ennio Morricone), a 12 minute intermission and costs a fortune. The Hateful Eight has funny dialogue, tension, invention, great performances, twists and reversal. It is packed full of entertainment: it just isn't packed with three hours and seven minutes worth of entertainment.
Of course this is entirely consistent with his usual methodology, which is to take downmarket or exploitative themes and ideas and then present them in classy, Oscar Pleader settings. Though Agatha Christie is regularly referenced in discussions of the film it is not a whodunnit, more a whowilldoit, a whenwilltheydoit, and a whatexactlywilltheydo. Kurt Russell is the bounty hunter taking Leigh to be hung at Red Rock, wary that an attempt will be made to free his captive when a fierce blizzard forces him to hole up at Millie's Haberdashery with six other hateful types. The idea of making a three hour 70mm epic that is basically a chamber piece limited to two interiors, the inside of a stagecoach and the open plan of the Haberdashery is agreeably perverse but self defeating – it emphasises the disparity between the grandeur with which it is presented and comparative meagreness of the content.
Not that there's anything particularly awful about the contents; it's just that everything here is a little too familiar. The same old Tarantino regulars and a few new faces delivering that distinctive QT dialogue, enacting the same well worn narrative sleights of hand and rejiggings of chronology, indulging the usual fetish for having people say “kneegar.” I enjoyed watching Hateful Eight but as soon as it had finished began to feel that it hadn't really been worth the time or expense. It's all tricks that you've seen before in Tarantino films, and seen placed in closer and more potent proximity to each other. Of course, if some unknown had made it I be raving about it (while moaning about it being too Tarantinoesque.) But if an unknown had made it it would've been two hours long and probably all the better for it.
Week of release reviews for Inglorious Basterds, Django Unchained and Death Proof.
