The Hateful Eight – A solid homage of Tarantino, by Tarantino
- harrypd21
- Jan 12, 2016
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 28, 2019
Last weekend, Quentin Tarantino’s eighth feature length film, The Hateful Eight opened in UK cinemas to positive reviews; a quintessentially Tarantino-y film that harks a way back to some of his earlier work.
Namely, that it’s been almost 24 years in the controversial yet, masterful, director’s career since his debut: Reservoir Dogs and, while purporting to be a homage to the “Spaghetti Western” genre, T.H.E. seems more closely aligned as a nod to Tarantino’s own, earlier work.
That’s not to say that there is a lack of recognition in Tarantino’s second foray into the Western genre – a score by the eminent Ennio Morricone and the nature of the film being shot in 70mm. However, despite the beautiful, if bleak (well-trodden ground for Westerns), opening tracking shot, your local cinema might not quite be able to handle the sheer width of the film – causing some blurring in the peripheries, despite it being an interesting experience to feature actor’s reactions that would otherwise be out of shot. Thus, the crux of the question as to whether this style is necessary, considering the claustrophobic and largely interior setting of The Hateful Eight, is up to you.
‘…hilariously funny and expectedly gory final act’
Again, the score is at times perhaps marred by the inclusion of jarring modern numbers and, without the scheduled intermission that will feature in die-hard showings, the inclusion of narration in “the second act” seems rather shoehorned. That is arguably due to the fact that the pithy dialogue we have come to expect of Tarantino-as-writer, and the interesting, deep, and inevitably to come-to-heads characters are fun enough to watch on their own.
Overall, T.H.E. unravels more like a play due to its relative lack of action (until an almost hilariously funny and expectedly gory final act), the clear segmentation into chapters and problem and the somewhat spurious moral that seems to be woven (if, half-heartedly) into the lattermost part of the film (all races can come together over violence?). Unlike Django Unchained, personally, the hefty running time doesn’t feel over-stated as we are treated to much more interesting characters and situations, more reminiscent of Reservoir Dogs in scope and reveal than a real Western.
Despite a questionable acceptance speech at the Golden Globes last night, on behalf of Ennio Morricone, T.H.E. is enjoyable, funny; at a times stunning example of Tarantino at it again and at his peak, that he can be proud of.
The Hateful Eight is in cinemas now.
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