The Hateful Eight (2015)
+
When I first heard Tarantino was making another Western, I was not excited. The trailer did nothing to help my enthusiasm, so my expectations were not high. I'm not completely sure how good I think this is. My feelings went back and forth during the movie, I woke up this morning not thinking much of it, and now my opinion has grown more favorable after thinking about it during the day. At one point I thought I'd never watch it again, and now I want to watch it again soon. With another viewing my opinion could drop or soar, and I have no idea which.
Not much of a story, and that's fine and expected. It's all just an excuse to show off. The cast is fine, but I didn't think anybody particularly stood out. The one exception may be Jennifer Jason Leigh, but I found that later in the film when she had more dialogue, her effectiveness went down. Sam Jackson is consistently good doing what would be expected from him. Kurt Russell is mostly good, but I didn't think as consistent. Walton Goggins was an interesting casting decision. He's an actor I like, and he plays the racist redneck type well. I thought he was decent, but also a bit inconsistent. Tim Roth has a role that's made to stand out, but I don't think it quite got there. He's good though, although if the credits said Chris Waltz was the actor, I would have never known the difference. Except for Reservoir Dogs, I think Michael Madsen is a bum, but I thought he did well with limited responsibility. Bruce Dern was also ok in a role that didn't require much. Channing Tatum was also ok, but forgettable in limited screen time. As a whole, the cast does a good job, but there's no Mr. Pink, no Jules, and no Hans Landa.
I thought the dialogue was much like the cast in that it was not memorable or consistent, but I thought there were some great moments. I thought that some of the attempts at humor failed miserably. The violence, all in the second half of the film, was pretty effective, and I though the most brutal of any Tarantino film. As advertised, the film looks fantastic, and the musical score was excellent. There were times that I thought I was watching people trying to put on a show, rather than watching a movie, and that led to me feeling that the overall tone was a little uneven. I'm someone who believes that Tarantino's first three films are by far his best, and obviously I have a few complaints about this movie. Despite that, Tarantino's movies have an undeniable life about them that is uncommon in the film industry. A big part of it is the anticipation he builds; you always know that something is going to happen. I don't quite think this movie is great, but there's great in it. Many will love it, but I also think it will get it's share of negative talk.