Movies

The Hateful Eight

A gritty and bloody western. but is three hours too long?

What’s it about?

Amidst a killer Wyoming blizzard, a motley assortment of bounty hunters, criminals, and law makers converge.

What did we think?

Stephen Scott says: Survivor is one of TV’s greatest shows because a villain can become a hero in a millisecond. Alliances are forged and discarded. Not everything is quite what it seems. Only the best player will win – and to do so they must outwit, outplay, and most importantly, outlast their rivals.

The Hateful Eight is Survivor, scripted and directed by Tarantino and set in the wild west. If the penultimate chapter hadn’t completely derailed the movies pace and lost its gallows humour, it would have been 4.5 stars. A masterclass in character and interplay.

If this is too long – try my Twitter review.

Anthony Sherratt says: There is so much to love in Tarantino’s eight film. Weirdly – or sadly – many of the things that make it great are going to be the things that others criticise. The modern viewer isn’t used to a slow pace that allows deep characterisation, the wide 2.75:1 frame that allows multiple character reactions nor a gritty world where racism, casual violence and misogny are merely par for the course. The Hateful Eight celebrates this deep dive into a brutal world of well-developed characters with a strong storyline that gradually fills out the motivations, expectations and final fates of interesting – though not beloved – denizens of the very wild west.

I was fortunate to see the extended version (only slightly longer) and while most wouldn’t normally enjoy a three-hour runtime, I could have gone on longer – something I consider to be a sign of good storytelling. This is a true masterclass of filmmaking.

9.2
gritty

Pros

  • Great characterisation
  • Good length that allows you to get lost in it
  • Brutality
  • Good whodunnit
  • Amazing acting

Cons

  • Hard to love characters
  • Long movie for some
  • Brutality
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