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Living Off Past Glories

Although I'm not 40 until September there are certain things that make me feel really old and the fact that Reservoir Dogs is now approaching it's 25th Anniversary (for the record it will hit this milestone in 2017). It's crazy to think that so long has passed since Quentin Tarantino arrived on the scene with his debut feature film and that in that time he has continued to march to the beat of his own drum, making the films that he wants to see rather than worrying about smashing it at the box office.

That said however in my humble opinion it has not all been sweetnes and light in the world of the directorial life of Mr Tarantino, in fact I would go so far as to say that it has been more than a decade since he delivered a truly memorable movie with his last great work being 2004s Kill Bill vol. 2. Everything leading upto that point was pretty much gold with Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and both parts of Kill BIll receiving critical acclaim. Between Fiction and Bill vol. 1 of course there was the less well received Jackie Brown though I enjoyed that film too and think it's deserving of more love than it actually gets (ironically enough I think people look back on it with more affection now than they did when it was first released).

Since 2004 Tarantino has released Death Proof, which is the weaker half of the Death Proof double bill, Inglorious Basterds, Tarantinos shot at making a war film, Django Unchained, his first western which whilst good ran for at least 20 minutes too long and his newest movie The Hateful Eight which at over 3 hours is his longest film to date.

Which brings us to the point of this post which is to review The Hateful Eight meaning of course from this point there will be spoilers, you have been warned!!

As you can probably tell from what I have thus far written I am not a fan of Basterds or Django but I was very much looking forward to Eight as the trailer looked more Tarantinoesque than his last two movies and I was genuinely excited to see if he could return to form (at least in my opinion). After about 20 minutes however I knew that I was going to be face with crushing disappointment as Tarantino took what had worked before and stretched it out over a running time that could easily have been dramatically shortened to create a better film.

There are other issues with Eight but some of those could be overlooked if the film just didn't feel like it went on forever. Take Pulp Fiction for instance, it runs at two and a half hours long but at no point does it feel like it. Even now almost 22 years later I can watch Fiction and get immersed into the story to such an extent that it is over before I know it. The same can be said for Jackie Brown and both parts of Kill BIll though the same cannot be said however for his more recent output. Both Basterds and Django feel like a hard slog when compared to their predecessors and unlike the directors previous efforts I spent most of my time whilst watching them wondering how long was left which is not the mark of a good film now is it?

As much as I felt like this about Tarantinos last two films it paled in comparison to how much The Hateful Eight just seemed to never end. Yes it was full of dialogue the likes of which we have come to expect from the director but it along with its ludicrous running time by the half way point the dialogue began to come across as an almost self parody of Tarantinos former glories. I don't think it helps that the cast is primarily made up of Tarantino stalwarts who he uses time and time again and each of them appear to be channeling a former character from a previous Tarantino film. Samuel L Jackson does nothing more than play himself but then this is no surprise as hes been doing for for years, Michael Madsen is playing Mr Blonde and Tim Roth is an exaggerated version of Ted the Bellhop from Four Rooms (not strictly a Tarantino film I know but you get the idea).

The plot of the film sees Kurt Russell taking a prisoner in the form of Jennifer Jason Leigh to a town called Red Rock to be hung for her crimes. They end up in a cabin along with an assortment of other shady characters, all of whom are trapped there due to a snow storm. Many of the characters either know each other or have history together which inevitably leads to long periods of talk punctuated by Tarantino style violence and of course the obligatory multiple deaths. Midway through the film however things take a turn for the bizarre when two of the characters are killed by way of poisoning which causes them to literally spill their guts all over the floor. This is done in such a stupid and over the top fashion that you could argue that it seems really out of place in this movie but thinking back it kind of channels the spirit of the bllodbath that is the crazy 88 battle in Kill Bill vol. 1.

From there we head towards the closing section of the film where Samuel L Jackson teams up with Walton Goggins (who true to form is fantastic as always) when they realise that Time Roth and Michael Madsen are actually in cahoots in trying to obtain the freedom of Leigh as she is the sister of their gang leader who just so happens to be Channing Tatum. Not that Tatum lasts very long before getting his brains blown out which in turns leads us to the climax where long story short everybody ends up dead. This too just feels recycled from Tarantinos past as it repeats the closing of Reservoir Dogs which I guess is apt that he looks back to the beginning to finish the film that feels like a Tarantino paint by numbers.

I really wanted to love this film as it appeared that it was everything that his previous two film were not and yet in making it feel like a return to form Tarantino has actually managed to make something that fails on almost every front which is a damn shame.

Don't get me wrong I am not saying that this is a bad film, it's just that it's not great and whilst it is better than anything else he has directed since 2004 that doesn't mean he gets an automatic pass allowing him to rehash past glories.

In some ways this film brings out the same emotions in me that The Force awakens did in so much as it very much comes across as a greatest hits film rather than anything new and unique. At least in the case of Eight however it is a new story with new characters and despite the sense of de ja vu it isn't as bad a rip off as Force Awakens feels.

For me there are many issues with The Hateful Eight though I imagine that most Tarantino fans will love it and lap up every second of the 187 minutes that this film lasts. In bringing this review to an end I will give Eight a 7 out of 10 which for those keeping score is the same score I gave Force Awakens when I reviewed it a few days ago. Not unlike J J's film Eight is perfectly enjoyable for what it is but I for one expected so much more.


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